Dharambir Kamboj - From a Rickshaw Puller to a Grassroot Innovator, an Incredible Story

An entrepreneur mind set can work wonders and can transform not only one life but life of thousands of people. One such grassroot innovator whose multipurpose food processing machine is not only changing the lives of thousands of poor people and promoting entrepreneurship in Indian rural women is Dharambir Kamboj. From a rickshaw puller to an innovator, Dharmbir's story is an example of his dedication to emerge as a farmer entrepreneur from abject poverty. 

Family Background

Dharambir Kamboj was born in Damla village of Haryana in 1963. He was the youngest kid among all his five siblings. Just like other poor families, Dharambir was forced to earn a living by quitting his studies in between to support his family. In an early age ,he migrated to Delhi and started working as a rickshaw puller there. 

The Journey of Learning

In 1980's, Dharmbir worked in Delhi by taking a number of small jobs including rickshaw pulling. While working as a rickshaw puller, he got a little space in a public library near Old Delhi Railway Station. Due to his urge for knowledge, he started reading various books and journals on farming related topics like cultivation of crops like broccoli ,shatavri ,foreign crops and many more in his spare time. However he met with a small accident in Delhi and went back to his ancestral village. After he recovered, he decided to remain in village only. He also took a six months training program on improvement in farming practices organised by Village Development society. 

Shaping of an Idea

In 2004 ,he visited Rajasthan on behalf of horticulture Department of Haryana. In this visit, he talked to various farmers regarding the aloe vera crop and its future prospects to obtain medicinal products from it . After his Rajasthan visit ,Dharmbir was searching for ways to set up an enterprise to process aloe vera and other medicinal plants and manufacture and market their products in an attractive manner. Previously in 2002 ,when he visited a bank manager regarding it ,he quoted an amount of Rs 5 lakh for the machine in auction. It was a quite large amount for him so he decided to develop his own food processing machine.

The Multipurpose Machine

Dharambir kept on working on the development of his own food processing machine with shear dedication. After hard work of 8 months and and initial investment of  25000 Rs, he  successfully launched the prototype of a multiple purpose food processing machine.

Dharambir's machine is portable and works on single phase motor. It is unique in the sense that it can process various fruits,herbs and seeds with great efficiency. It is equipped with temperature control and auto cut off facility which works like a big pressure cooker. This is one of its kind of machine which can not only powder but also mix up, can steam ,can do pressure cooking as well extract oil/ juice/ gel from various fruits ,seeds and herbs. The machine comes up with two models - smaller one of price 70000 rupees and larger one with price 1.5 Lakh rupees. It works in hybrid mode - both with electricity as well as solar energy.

The Innovator Inside

Dharambir was having entrepreneurial and innovative attitude right from childhood. He was having great affinity towards herbs from childhood when he keenly observed her mother making natural colour from Palash flowers during Holi. When he was in class 7th, he prepared small heaters from old and used tin and coil and sold them at the rate of rupees 15 per piece. He also developed an Automatic Broom for cleaning the roads. Due to his creative attitude, he experimented cultivation of hybrid tomatoes, mushroom, strawberry and baby corns also. Dharambir imparts an extensive training to his customers on how to use machine who purchase it from him . He himself is giving employment to 35 rural women in his food processing unit in the village. His machine is being used by several self help groups pan India which has helped the poor rural women in raising their income a lot and processing the products faster.

Honour and Recognition

His machine has gained whidespread recognition and popularity and he got patent for his machine from National innovation Foundation. He is importing his machine to 15 countries including USA , Italy ,Nepal, Australia ,Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Uganda. He has been awarded with National innovation award in 2009 by for his innovation. At present he is the CEO and director of Dharambir Food Processing Technology Private Limited. His life story and achievements have been also included in CBSE class 12th business studies subject which is a very proud moment. 

We just bow to Dharambir Kamboj for his dedication, patience and perseverance in spite of all the odds which made him stand here where he is today and inspiring thousands of lives.