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.

 Lahari Bai - The Millet Queen of India

On a proud morning on February 9,2023 Narendra Modi ,the Honorable Prime Minister of India has declared Lahari Bai as the Brand Ambassador of Millets in India due to her remarkable work done towards preservation of Shree Ann or millets of India. This 27 years old tribal women has been an inspiration for the farmers of 54 villages near by and set an example in the cultivation of millets! 

Introduction

Amidst dense forests of Dindori district of Madhya Pradesh ,lies the village Silipidi which is the native village of Lahari Bai who belongs to Baiga tribal community of the region. Lahari has never taken any formal education not went to school but she learnt the importance of millets from her grandmother right from childhood days. Her grandmother's lessons have such a great influence on her that she started collecting seeds of millets from the age of 18 and decided not to marry but to dedicate her life towards serving her parents and preserving the millets. She started collecting seeds of numerous varieties of millets from nearby villages and prepared a seed bank. In this noble process of collecting the seeds, she was mocked by the villagers multiple times but she continued working recklessly with an immovable intention. Due to her enormous efforts, she has been able to preserve the seeds of more than 150 varieties of millets so far!

A Marvelous step

Lahari Bai collected the millet seeds from wherever she can and sowed them in the fields after collecting them .She then recollected them by harvesting the crop. In this way, through years of hard work and huge efforts, she prepared her own seed bank of more than 150 varieties of millets. What a wonder! 

Gradually the villagers started supporting her and a positive atmosphere was built around for millets. They understood the importance of millet farming as well as their nutritional value. People started approaching her for seeds. She distributed those hard earned seeds to farmers for free. Presently ,she sows 16 varieties of seeds in a single farm to cultivate and collect more and more seeds of millets. At present, she lives in a small two room house made under Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojana with her old parents with one room dedicated to the seed bank only.

Applause Worldwide

Lahari Bai has preserved the seeds of millets like Kodo ,Kutki, Kangni ,Jowar ,Sama ,Madwa and many more. She has been acclaimed from Dindori Collector to Prime Minister's office and has been honoured by United Nations as well. After getting rewarded by United Nations ,Dindori Collector Vikas Mishra did her branding by putting her posters throughout the district. With a motive to felicitate her ,after seeing her noble efforts to preserve Shree Ann, Dindori Collector has forwarded her name for scholarship to Indian Agriculture Research Institute ,Jodhpur.

A poor tribal women has revolutionized not only her community but the whole world through her powerful intentions with minimum resources available. She is a leading figure in the farming of millets for farmers of nearby villages. Hats off to the millet queen and her passion!

 Kalyan Verma - an Engineer to BBC Earth Champion

The co founder of peepli.org, a collaborative effort on long form visual story telling on crucial environmental issues as well as the co founder of India Nature Watch, an online community dedicated to wildlife photography - Kalyan Verma needs no introduction at all. A film maker, specialist in environment and Science and an eminent Wildlife photographer - Kalyan is known for his passion for nature photography.

Childhood Days

For Kalyan ,wildlife photography was a childhood dream which got manifested now. Right from childhood days, he was spending hours sticking to television ,watching wildlife programs on BBC Earth and National Geographic. He was mesmerized by observing these programs. Soon he realized that this was something which was giving him an opportunity to explore the wonderful wildlife and reveal it in front of everyone. " As I remember, I loved wild life from my childhood days and was kindly interested in photography. " Kalyan says. However as belonging to a middle class family ,he was not having the choice to follow an unconventional career , so he completed his mechanical engineering from Bengluru and started his career from Yahoo.

Transition in Career

In 2001, he joined Yahoo and worked as Security Division Head there. He also worked for open source software and LINUX community in India. During his job in Yahoo, he enjoyed his work a lot and was also awarded by 'Superstar Award ' which is presented only to 10 selected candidates all over the world. He was promoted and also sent to US but his heart was swinging in photography only so he finally quit his job in 2004 for his passion.

Migrating to the Wild

When Kalyan left his job, he decided to follow his dream and turned up to nature photography. He packed his bag and  migrated to B R Hills, a small wildlife sanctuary amidst dense forests in South Karnataka. He started understanding the relationship of human beings with nature and photographed many natural events. In his endeavor, he was helped a lot by Soligas, a community of local people living in wild for centuries. In this process, he got many valuable experiences and his entire vision about nature got transformed. As per Kalyan " we live in a country where we need protected areas. Our relationship with nature is very bad."

Royalty Free photos

As photography was a true falling for Kalyan, he took a breakthrough decision of keeping his photographs free. When he was in college, he was much inspired by the idea of free software and creative commons as these tools can be much beneficial for all. As per Kalyan, the idea of creative commons is wonderful in itself as you are putting forward your creative work in front of others for free so that they can consume it and improve also. Inspired by this idea, Kalyan has made his 10000 + photos on internet free which are ready to be used anywhere. He is not charging anything for them. He firmly believes that the people eventually pay you for your services.

His Works

As a child, Kalyan craved for being a part of a filming team. His dream came true when BBC asked him to work with them. Since then, he has worked both for BBC and National Geographic on many of their Blue chip programs. Kalyan has photographed lion tail monkeys which are found in Western Ghats in South India whose population is only 2000 worldwide. In his project, when he photographed them in an album and sent it to the project engineer showing that how their project was killing the monkeys, the construction work was stopped. He also documented several crucial wildlife projects namely Million snake bites and secrets of wild India and Mountain of the Monsoons. He also freelanced with Lonely Planet ,GEO, The Guardian ,Nature and Smith Sonian. 

Setting up World's largest Photography Platform

Kalyan is the co founder of India Nature Watch, the largest online photography community in the world. Decades ago when Kalyan started his work, he found that many other photographers were doing amazing work in nature photography but had no platform to share their work. Along with three other co-founders ,he created a web platform to share their wildlife photos and built a flourishing community around it. It has an active member base of 10000 + members with thousands of photos shared everyday. He also formed peepli.org, a collaborative visual story telling platform focusing on critical environmental issues  . He has now turned up to photo journalism by filming various landscapes changing over the years and making people aware about them.

Awards

Kalyan has been awarded with Century Wildlife photographer of the year 2005 and BBC Wildlife photographer of the year 2013. He has also got National Film Award for best exploration or adventure film for movie Wild Karnataka. His documentary on the Sundarbans Tiger for the BBC series super cats was nominated for the Emmys. He regularly give lectures on digital and nature photography. 

Passion has no body but only wings. It can create wonders. Kalyan Verma is a perfect example of it!

 Tondra - The Organic Village of Jharkhand

The organic revolution is now becoming a familiar face to the country. One such inspiring story comes from a small village from relatively less known state of India - Jharkhand. The 12 villages of Jharkhand including Kasamar and Jaridih near Bokaro are on the path of organic farming. The 1200 acres of land in these villages don't use any kind of chemical fertilizer for farming and the leader of all of them is Tondra village of Bhaski Panchayat near Bokaro.  

Going Organic

The first totally organic village of Jharkhand near Bokaro has a population of about 1200 people. Out of which nearly half of the population - 600 people are farmers. These farmers have not only initiated organic farming in their fields and successfully growing crops but also demotivated other farmers nearby to use chemical fertilizers. The impact seen was quite majestic which revolutionized the lives of people there.

Start of a Change

Noonibala Devi of Tondra  recalls " under the guidance of Agriculture Scientist M S Swaminathan, the leader of Green Revolution ,we took it on a serious note to adopt organic farming and related practices when he told us about the severe consequences and harm done to the environment due to use of chemicals". 

She elaborates " Our village panchayat Bhaski put up the slogan "No chemical ,go chemical" for the first time in the region. In village Bhaski itself, a total of 125 acres of land is cultivated under organic farming. It includes paddy ,maize , tuar daal and vegetables. Vegetables are grown on a large scale organically in the village.  

The Sarpanch of village Mantu Marandi and Ex Sarpanch Sunita Kumari are both very active. Sunita attends every meeting related to organic farming. Panchanan Mehto of Durgapur Panchayat says that we have totally adopted this beautiful practice to conserve our land and water resources realizing its power.

Consequences of Organic Farming

Organic farming have started leaving its positive results now. Due to this practice, not only the biodiversity of the village has enhanced but there is a remarkable improvement in the overall health of the villagers also. The women told that there is no one in the village who is seriously ill. 10 -15 years ago, people were suffering from cold and cough only however during covid period ,3 cases of diabetes were also detected in the village. After adoption of organic farming, their glucose levels have improved drastically. There are no cesarean deliveries is in the village .Moreover the village children also rarely become ill !

Effect on Farming

Initially the farmers have to work hard and invest more but they start getting benefits within eight months. Contrary to chemical fertilizers, whose intake has to be increased continuously year by year, the use of organic manure decreases with the increasing time span as they replenish the soil naturally. Although the production increases to 10% of its present value using chemical fertilizers but 15% product decompose or rot also . Moreover they degrade the health also. One such result was clearly seen in the village by the presence of tomatoes in the month of may when the flowers of tomatoes were shed away all over the state and tomato prices were raised. 

The villagers have firm belief that it's only a matter of attitude. If someone is dedicated to adopt organic farming ,he has to just change his mindset and the amazing results are in front of everyone through the example set by Tondra village of Jharkhand. Infact ,it is a perfect example of team spirit and community service !

 IITians to Make Face Recognition Software

The students of IIT Bhilai have got splendid success by designing face recognition software which can prove to be a landmark in the history of  smart policing. It can prove to be very beneficial to police in identifying and catching the criminals and finding their location. 

Introduction

All the students who have designed the software belong to IIT Bhilai. They include Vipin Gautam ,Vansh Raj Singh, Shubham Bhagat, Raja Singh and Pratham Sahu. All of them are the students of second semester in IIT Bhilai in computer science branch. Along with their efforts, they also took the help of police experts for making this software. After successful completion of designing of software a , successful demo was also given in front of police officials. 

The Software

The software first has to be uploaded with photo and data of the criminals and then to be connected with a camera. Even a rough sketch of the criminal downloaded in the software can identify the original person as soon as it comes in contact with the camera. The most wonderful feature of the software is that even if the person faces the camera by changing the get up, then also the camera will identify the person with the help of software and will inform to the control room immediately. As per students, this is the first ever software in the country which sends immediate message to the control room after identifying the accused. 

The Technology Behind

Student Vipin Gautam told that a person has roughly 64 such points on his or her face which are not matching with anybody's face. The software has been prepared on this basic principle only. The software recognizes the accused by scanning those 64 points in his or her face which has to be uploaded in the software. The activity and ways of movement are also the additional factors which contribute to the recognition of the accused. Even if the system is uploaded with thousands of photos ,the software can identify the particular accused amongst them.

Successful Demonstration

So far the software has an arrangement that it can provide response within the range of data stored in the software only. The students have successfully demonstrated the software in front of present Superintendent of police Divyang Patel. The demonstration was done at a large scale by uploading the photos of police corps in the software. As soon as they faced the camera, they were identified and message was sent to the control room. The software is in use by police now. 

Innovations need for creative call and a small support to get unveiled publicly. This story is a perfect example of it !

 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 !