MBA SPECIAL...IIM A grads drive autorickshaw do vegetable vending businesses

IIM A grads drive autorickshaw  vegetable vending businesses

Fair-fare autos make it big in Gujarat

Nagpur: A degree from IIM Ahmedabad could have easily landed Nirmal Kumar a job with a fat pay packet at a multinational company. However, Kumar chose to earn Rs45,000 a month, managing a fleet of 10,000 autorickshaws in Gujarat.
    Haggling with an autorickshaw driver over fare changed the course of life for this physically challenged, 2008 batch graduate from the country’s premier management school. Kumar family, which has a modest background, is based in Siwan district of Bihar. His father is a primary schoolteacher. The idea for this business struck Kumar a few years ago, when he was overcharged by an auto driver while returing to his college from a restaurant.
    He entered into a deal with the auto drivers who park outside the IIM campus and assured them free newspapers and an health-cum-personal insurance cover, for which he spent his own money. In return, they only had to give an undertaking that they would charge proper fares.
    The idea clicked, and the next tranche of funding came from some companies in Gujarat. The companies happily agreed since the expenditure also accounted for their corporate social responsibility activities, he said. “When I needed more funds, I contacted Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. The access was easy, and Modi was keen too,” says Kumar.
    With funds, Kumar increased the facilities for drivers, and developed the brand ‘G Auto’. Drivers got benefits like subsidized healthcare and education for their wards. Today, revenue comes from the government, corporates and advertisement. “The vehicles carry ads, from which a sizeable revenue is generated, and we can break even. We have formed a trust, which pays my salary and also 21 of my colleagues,” he said. “Even now, anyone flouting the rules loses the benefits and membership of G Auto. But we also fight for the drivers if the cops wrongly harass them,” he says. Kumar is the MD of the Nirmal Foundation.

Shishir Arya & Aparna Nair TOI 130318

MBA sabziwallas strike green gold

Ahmedabad: They have an MBA from the most sought-after business school in the country but are busy selling vegetables.
    Nirmal Kumar and Kaushlendra Kumar — both graduates from IIM-Ahmedabad, have brought respectability to the business of vegetable selling through their innovative ventures.
    Bihar-based Kaushlendra, whose brand ‘Samriddhii, MBA Sabziwala’ has touched the lives of more than 6,000 farmer families in Bihar and provide direct employment to around 300 people.
    He has been professionalizing and creating new distribution channel linkages to facilitate faster distribution of fresh farm produce with minimal lead time and better customer satisfaction.
    “Our next aim is to form institutions of vegetable farmers so that they can have bargaining power in changed marked dynamics like FDI in retail. Future plan also involves taking this proven model and Bihar agriculture produce to other parts of the country,” said Kaushlendra, who started selling vegetables from a small outlet located behind a school in Patna. His first day sales was Rs 22, which has now touched Rs 5 crore in just 3.5 years of its operation.
    Kaushlendra is also trying to change the social mindset of the young and educated in Bihar, who will do anything but work in agriculture sector.
    Ahmedabad-based Nirmal Kumar is on the threshold of launching his online venture for selling vegetables. The venture will give people in Ahmedabad an option to buy farm fresh vegetables online, thus help curb inflation.
    “At present, farmers are not getting the right price and customers are paying almost 300-900% higher price for vegetables. I believe vegetables and fruits can be made available at cheaper rates to the consumers by eliminating middlemen. Inflation can be controlled by controlling the price rise on daily use items,” said Nirmal.

Chitra Unnithan TOI 130318