From 12th grade to a 20 Crore Jamun Empire : Rajesh Ojha's Remarkable Journey

Can you ever imagine a start up based on black plum popularly known as jamun in India? With the core purpose of empowering tribal women community of Rajasthan by using their expertise and knowledge on Indian herbs and medicinal plants, Rajesh Ojha laid the foundation of Tribalveda ,an enterprise based solely on jamun. It is one of it's kind of innovative and creative approach in the field of agri based products. 

Early days of struggle

Rajesh Ojha has completed his formal education and passed class 12th from his hometown near

Udaipur. In the search of livelihood he shifted to Mumbai. With this basic level of education, it was quite hard to get a better job in Mumbai. He worked there as a salesman for 14 years however in year 2017 with hardly 1000 rupees in his pocket, he and his wife left Mumbai with a dream to uplift the Grasiya tribal women near Udaipur. 

He took a loan of 2lakhs from his friend and started his entrepreneurship journey with absolutely no knowledge of agriculture.

The Difficult Journey

Rajesh recalls that once he didn't have enough money to support his family. He also faced a lot of hardships in his entrepreuneal journey as he was mocked by his own family members and relatives for opting an agriculture based career. He was disapproved multiple times to leave the comfort of a metropolitan city and reside in forest area. Moreover it was quite difficult to communicate with tribal community and convince them to sell their produce to an unknown person. Despite these challenges, due to his humbleness, simplicity and the purity of intentions ,he gained trust of tribal people and built up strong bond with them with time.

Founding of Jovaki

Jovaki in local language means to enlighten. In 2017,Rajesh founded Jovaki Agro Foods India Private Limited which is the parent company of brand Tribalveda. It is a source of income and livelihood for more than 1000 tribal families. Rajesh noticed that the region was rich in a variety of natural herbs, fruits and medicinal plants however due to lack of storage and processing facilities ,a lot of forest produce like custard apple and Jamun pulp was being wasted. He foresaw a great opportunity in processing these fruits and built up a successful enterprise around it. In Jovaki,  the tribal women are first imparted rigorous training on various steps involved in the processing of fruits like harvesting and collection of fruits, their storage and grading, sorting and washing of quality produce and finally their processing and packaging. The whole process is being done by tribal women.

The products

The company is involved in making of a variety of innovative products like flakes ,strips, vinegar and green tea from Jamun. After making these products,the leftover Jamun seed is sun dried and converted into powder and utilised for medicinal purpose. Also the custard apple pulp is sold in market to caterers and ice cream and dessert industry. The waste which is remaining after processing is used for vermi composting and a part of seeds remaining is used for plantation of same plants. Such a great vision!

Uplifting the Tribal Community

On and average,  70 tribal women are involved in each unit for processing of fruits while another 150 tribal women are supporting them in the collection of fruits there by engaging more than 1000 tribal women in the whole process. Jovaki intends to intervene the remotest parts of forest and provide a sustainable livelihood to the local tribal community, specially women. The 60% of total profit of company goes to these women in such a way that 25000 families are supported indirectly from this innovative business model. The company has also created a general awareness about the significance of local forest produce in the community and is also involved in extensive plantation drive in the region. The company has setup village level processing units not only in Southern Rajasthan but also in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Company Profile and Awards

At present ,Jovaki has a valuation of around 20 crores and expected to grow about 10 times more in upcoming 2 years. After the setting up of the brand Tribalveda, company has started selling it's products on e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart also. Jovaki has been awarded with the 'DBS Foundation Special Enterprise Award 2021 'which is being awarded to only19 companies worldwide because of its innovative 'Socio economic development 'model. With an aim to process 50000 kg of wild vegetables and fruits annually and selling 125 metric tons of forest produce , Jovaki  is targetting to provide livelihood to 18000 tribal families in upcoming years. The company also aims to plant 15 Million trees in the coming years.

Seeing their creative approach, many supporters have come ahead by joining hands with them like CCS NIAM centre for Innovation, Villgro Innovation Foundation, Knowledge Partner RKVY RAFTAAR, Gol Upaya Ventures, IIM Kolkata and ICICI Foundation. 

Rajesh Ojha is gleaming example of entrepreneurship clubbed with a true leadership having a great vision for welfare and upliftment of the society.

 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.

 Agriculture University to design AI enabled App to provide solutions for smart farming

Today AI is emerging in almost every field offering innovative solutions and making the world a better place to live in. Keeping in mind the difficulty of farmers, Indira Gandhi Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Raipur has designed an AI enabled app for providing solutions for various agricultural problems and helping farmers to initiate smart farming.This is a joint venture of IGKV and NIC and the app has been named as Crop Doctor 2.0.

The Inspiration Behind

Farmers usually confront a variety of problems during farming ranging from getting good quality seeds, use of proper manures and irrigation facilities ,removal of weeds to harvesting and storage of crop. Many times they are unable to get an expert advice on time and this suffer a lot. Crop doctor 2.0 is a complete farming solution application powered by AI which will provide information to farmers at one click.

Working of App

A dedicated team of IGKV including Dr Ravi Saxena , C Abhijeet Kaushik ,Kalpana Banjare, Sandeep Khateek, Jitendra Chandrakar and Rakesh Pal has developed the app Crop Doctor 2.0. First the farmers have to download the app from Play Store and login the app after signing up. They will have to click the photo of the problem and then upload it in the app. As soon as the photo is uploaded, the app will recognise the problem using AI. It will then share the detailed information about the problem and suggest remedies for it. The problem will be shared with experts also. The experts will then share their advice with the farmers.

Benefits of Using the App

Crop Doctor 2.0 is an app equipped with AI ,machine learning, cloud computing, internet of things, expert system, data analysis ,mobile application and exclusive features like online marketing platform. The farmers cannot only get an expert advise about farm insects, choosing right kind of medicines and information about new technology but they will also get valuable tips by the scientists to improve the crops sitting at the home. The students of Agriculture University will also get expert advice from this app which will enhance their learning greatly. The app is providing solutions with 99% accuracy.

Machine learning and AI has been increasing its importance day by day and the use of AI in agriculture can prove to be a boon for humanity as agriculture is the basis for survival of human race.

 Govindbhai Dholakia - A businessman by profession, A philanthropist by Heart

From a diamond cutter to a business tycoon, Govind Bhai Dholakia has under gone a long journey ahead. He is recently in news due to release of his autobiography 'Diamonds Are Forever, so are morals.' But above all ,he is at present famous, due to his ambitious philanthropic project of installing solar systems in 750 martyr family all over the country. 

Childhood Days

In a remote village of Dudhala located in Gujarat, Govind Bhai was born in a poor agricultural family of seven sisters and brothers. His upbringing was very simple and the childhood days were struggling in the absence of proper education and basic facilities like other poor children. As belonging to a poor family, Govind Bhai was working for 14 hours in fields in terrific summer. He has little formal education and is just literate. At the age of 13,he came to Surat in 1964 to support his family and started working in a diamond company as a labour. He worked for 14 hours a day just like other workers in the company.

Triggering of an Idea

While polishing diamond in early days, only 28% of the stone was convertible into diamond and rest part wasted as ashes . Working with dedication and scientific technique, Govind Bhai increased the polished part of the stone from 28% to 34% there by reducing the waste which increased the value of diamond greatly. When he reported this to his owner ,instead of becoming happy he instructed Govind Bhai to cut it more and convert it into a smaller diamond. Govind Bhai denied to do so. At this point ,he realised that if he can get 6% more diamond from stone, he can start his own business instead of doing job. This laid the foundation of SRK Diamonds in 1970 along with his two partners.

Establishing an Unbeatable Empire

When Govind Bhai came to Surat in 1964 to meet the needs of his family, he was resonating with a higher purpose to do something different and big. His eyes were shining with bigger dreams! As per Govind Bhai" utilizing the full potential of diamond was not only an art but it was a proper and skilled science also. To be a skilled Diamond cutter and polisher ,it took years of training however this part is still a puzzle for most of the caftsman. " At present, SRK diamonds is one of the world's leading diamond cutting and polishing company. Around 6000 people are working in the firm which is increasing day by day. In year 2021 -23, companies turnover reached to 16000 crore. Company has direct contracts with companies like Rio Tinto, D Bears, Tanishq and Arctic Canadian Diamond Company Limited for processing of rough diamonds. Due to his immense growth mind set and dream of establishing an advanced Research Institute for imparting knowledge about diamonds, he setup SRK Institute of Diamonds(SRKID) in 2014. Moreover to impart training in various diamond and the skills related to it, SRK Institute of skills (SRKIS)was also launched  on 15th August 2021 under SRK knowledge Foundation.

Giving Back to Society

Govind Bhai is a man of morals. He has a deep sense of social responsibility and great inclination towards spirituality and religion. In Business School circuits also, Govind Bhai is much popular and influential however his speech is mainly focussed on growth and values. A part of company's income is regularly contributed to hospitals, schools, colleges and relief centres. Apart from this ,he is much concerned about the welfare of company workers. Recently Govind Bhai is in limeLight as he has installed solar panels in 750 martyr families throughout the country. So far till August 2023,data of 3000 families is fetched but due to non availability of contact sources ,the work is going slow. One solar panel is costing between 80000 to 1 lakh rupees. Govind Bhai says that it will save their electricity bill by 15000 to 20000 rupees per year. The foundation aims at helping needy martyr families on priority basis.

Govind Bhai has been awarded with 'Hurun Most Respected Family of the Year ' by Hurun Global at Mumbai in February 2023.

The greatness of such personalities doesn't lies in their achievements but the legacy they leave behind for incoming generations . Salute to such leaders!

 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!