Shridhar Vembu - From Silicon Valley to a village Entrepreneur in Tamilnadu

Situated at the foothills of the Western Ghats, Mathalamparai is a tiny village in Tenakasi district of Tamilnadu which is about 650 km from Chennai. The village is much popular today as it is the headquarters of Tech giant 'Zoho Corporation' which is the native village of Indian entrepreneur, co-founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation Sridhar Vembu. Shridhar is one of the most underrated CEO'S known so far. 

Approaching Roots

Shridhar was born in a farmer family  and got graduated in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras. He completed his Ph.D from Princeton University in New Jersey. For a brief period ,he worked at Qualcomm and finally co founded AdventNet in 1996 along with his brother and friend. They produced software solutions and products when IT services were at the apex. In 2000, there was IT Bubble Blast and the company lost his 80% clients. In year 2002, they renamed the company as Zoho corporation and the company emerged as an online innovative application provider.

What is Zoho

Although Zoho is the top Software as a service Company (SaaS) and much popular name among business persons but still unknown to common man. Today Zoho is providing cloud based CRM solutions and designed about 40 apps in the areas of online accounting, inventory management and human resource. Small scale and medium scale companies are the target customers of the company who cannot purchase costly softwares. The company also provides about 55 softwares and apps in the field of marketing ,sales,help desk, finance ,IT, legal, customer solutions and project management. Nearly half of the business of Zoho comes from upmarket companies which have more than 1000 employees.Zoho has recently launched 13 AI applications and integrations which are powered by chat GPT. Zoho has also launched its own private server Ulaa by blending third party Intelligence with its AI engine Zia which operates on their own secure cloud. The new private browser of Zoho is having pre build capabilities that can block website servillance and tracking. Ulaa  is not sharing data with any third party. They are also going to build their own large language models similar to chat GPT.

The philosophy behind

Shridhar decided to come back to India in 2019 just before the outbreak of covid. When the world welcomed Work from home policy ,Vembu went for Work from Village. That Tagline of Zoho is - 'Made in India, Made for World'. Vembu firmly believes that world class products can be designed anywhere. He dreams of people working from villages catering to the global requirements and learning new skills. Currently Zoho has two rural offices- Tenakasi and Renigunta in Andhrapradesh. In one of his interview with Forbes India, he emphasizes that his employees should be mostly from the village as they will not only stay connected to the roots but also have a work life balance. The company plans to higher 50% of employees from small cities in future. He also hopes that city people will mentor and coach local rural youth for employment and recruitment in Zoho. He himself teachers Maths and Science in a local school as well as indulge in farming.

Stats to Reflect On

At present there are about 108 unicorns in the country. These are those companies which are not listed in share market.17 out of 18 unicorns have gained profits in last financial year. With the tremendous profit of 2700 crore rupees, Zoho ranks at the top among them. Zoho has no debt and it has also not  raised money through investments or selling the equity. The world's 300 Fortune companies out of top 500 companies have great reliance in Zoho. Zoho has 10 crore users with 15000 employees working worldwide. Company sales more than 55 products in more than 150 countries. The company has generated 6.7 crore rupees revenue in the previous year and marked 65% annual growth in upmarket. 

What's Special? 

Zoho has not entered the market with any extraordinary service or product. Company only focused on small businesses. Zoho provides services and solutions at cheaper rates to small businesses which are sold by big companies at higher rates. Zoho doesnot spends much on marketing instead it spends three times more on research and development which can maintain the quality of it's products. Company has collaborated with their customers as channel partners. These channel partners only fetch new customers by mouth publicity for them.This is all possible you to the philosophy of it's mentor Sridhar Vembu.

Honour

Vembu  has been awarded with Ernst and Young entrepreneur of the Year award 2019. He was earlier awarded with Padmashree, India's fourth highest civilian award. This village enterpreneur has been recently appointed in the board of National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) of India. 

Vembu is a great entrepuner having immense affinity for rural development. The world Looks for such great people eagerly!

 Annadurai G - An Entrepreneur Auto Rickshaw Driver

An auto driver by profession, Corporate trainer, motivational speaker ,social entrepreneur and 7 times TEDx speaker Annadurai G, a miraculous person from Chennai is the role model for all the entrepreneurs today. After being appreciated by Anand Mahindra, he has become a hero in the eyes of the countryman.

Early Days

Anna started his career as a waiter. In 2010 he started working as an auto rickshaw driver. Gradually he started keeping magazines and newspapers in his auto. Initially the family members of Anna were are not ready for these expenses. In 2013 ,he was called up in a local event to give a lecture on management and he became famous overnight. 

Services Offered

This tech savvy driver provides free Wi-Fi ,iPad, Google home ,Alexa, laptop, an 11th inch smart TV and swipe machine in his auto. The services are not limited here but he also provides Amazon echo and an AWS deep lens video camera which enables hands free calling and playing music in the auto. 

Apart from it , Anna also prepares snacks and provides them along with water and Juice which he stores in a mini fridge inside the auto!

From a Driver to a Superstar

Anna offers all the services to his customers for free however he charges same fair for travel. Although most of his customers are people working in IT sector but he also offers free rides to doctors, nurses, teachers and sanitation workers. When asked about the motive behind this act, he just stated "customers are my real gold. " This 37 year old driver has hardly studied class 11th but he talks on marketing, management ,startup and innovations ingeniously !This passionate driver has now become a public figure with more than 20000 followers on various social media platforms. Anna has his own app and website from where people can book his services!

Management Lessons

"My only motto is  loyalty towards customers and providing best services to them. " As stated by Anna when asked about his business secret. Anna also organizes customer relationship development competition once in a month in which the customers have to answer 5 questions. The lucky winners get a coupon of thousand rupees. Anna also distribute tokens to his customers. After collecting 20 coupons, the customer gets a discount of 250 rupees in auto ride. He also offers discounts at special occasions like Mother's Day father's day and more.

Honour

This wonderful driver now conduct seminars for companies like Google and Microsoft. Countries top institutes like IITs and IIMs have called him to deliver lectures multiple times. He has so far delivered lectures in 320 big companies and 205 colleges. He has marked his presence more than seven times in TEDx talks at different locations in the country. 

After being praised by Anand Mahindra he has become an entrepreneurial Hero! As per Anand Mahindra " this man is not only an auto driver--------- he is a professor of Management. Let's learn from him. "Such a honour! The man with a vision in customer relationship and management and an inspiration for many.

 Rajiben Vankar - The Artisan Entrepreneur

Rajiben Vankar, a renowned artisan and entrepreneur from Kutch, Gujarat is the face for all women who amidst all odds, are changing their lives and contributing to the progress of nation as well. Rajiben is a noted personality in the field of weaving as she is creating beautiful handicraft products from discarded plastic and so far upcycled 100,0000 single use plastic bags. She is not only saving the environment from hazards of plastic but also empowering women. The tagline of her brand is 'crafting a better planet.'

Childhood

Rajiben belongs to the Vankar community of Kutch which has been practicing loom weaving for centuries in the dry landscape of Bhuj in Kutch. Her home was in Kotay village along the shore of grand Rann of Kutch in Gujarat. In her childhood days ,she was keenly interested in weaving as she saw her family members weaving beautiful woolen clothes on loom. Although weaving was considered as no woman job, seeing her interest for weaving, her cousins secretly taught her weaving when her father went for farming on a small piece of ancestral land. By the age of 14, she was an expert in weaving. 

In 2020,when there was a severe drought in Kutch and her father faced great losses in agriculture ,it posed a big problem for their livelihood. It was a total surprise for her father when she told him that she knew weaving. He finally gave her permission to start weaving with acrylic wool on the loom.

Hardships in Life

She got married at the age of 18. Very soon she was a mother of two boys and one girl in quick succession however she was denied from weaving due to societal norms and traditions. In 2007 ,her husband got a cardiac arrest at the age of 30 and passed away leaving family responsibilities on her. 

She was in absolute shock. Being mentally broken and financially burdened, she was unable to brought up her three children so she shifted to Avadh Nagar where her elder sister resided. Unable to pay the rent, she put up a bamboo tent and started working as a farm labour to support her family. Rajiben was however not enjoying her work.

Turning to Weaving

Working as a farm labour for 2 years, she once heard of a local NGO Khamir which was providing platform to the heritage and crafts of Kutch region by providing employment to the artisans of the region. When Rajiben approached them they asked her to join and offered her a salary of rupees 3000 which was raised to rupees 10000 in the third year. Here came a U turn in her life! She was not only enjoying her work but meeting various people who were visiting the NGO to learn Kutch art and craft . She was praised much for her work. 

One day Rajiben got struck with an innovative idea that single use plastic bags which are discarded and simply polluting the environment can be upcycled and various items can be prepared from them through weaving. This will not only generate income but also reduce pollution.

Start of a New Journey

With this new approach, Rajiben started  collecting, cleaning and breaking down plastic bags into a form which can create new items. She trained 30 women for performing this whole process. Due to her innovative approach , she went to London to exhibit her weaving skills and showcase the products prepared from the upcycled plastic.

Initiating Her Own Enterprise

After her London trip, Rajiben realized that she can start her own enterprise. She united 30 women from nearby villages to prepare planters ,plastic bags, spectacle cases, pouches ,trays and other products on loom. She was however lagging design and marketing expertise. This gap was bridged by Kaarigar Clinic- an Ahmednagar based bussiness firm which connects urban buyers and rural artisans through technology. After training women across villages, she is also now creating products like yoga mats, laptop bags ,shopping bags and table mats also. Their annual revenue is about 10 lakhs.

From a Labour to President Award

After years of hard work, Rajiben is a successful entrepreneur leading a glorious life with two awards in her bag. She has been awarded with President award for her Social entrepreneurship in the field of weaving and saving environment and also bagged Swachh Sujal Shakti Samman as well. Her two sons have settled in corporates and her daughter has joined the loom business after graduation. Hats off to the lady with such a powerful will !