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| Credit: Theweekendleader.com |
“Strong enough to make holes in the rock are tiny drops of water that persist to fall. Persistence is the attitude that breaks down mountains one rock at a time!”― Israelmore Ayivor
Meet Prafull Billore, a young entrepreneur, B.Com graduate, and dynamic motivational speaker who began his career with 8000 rupees and has now grown his business to over Rs. 3 crore. Prafull moved to Ahmedabad four years ago from a small hamlet in Madhya Pradesh with the intention of launching a business that would help him overcome his sadness at not being accepted into any of India's famous business schools.
Prafull says, "I was lured by the attractive packages offered to MBA grads." “I moved to Indore (from my village) and studied for the CAT in a PG (paying guest) hotel.”
He got an 82 percentile in the CAT in 2017, but it wasn't
enough to get into any of the elite colleges. So, rather than opting for one of
the lower-ranked universities, he opted to give up his MBA aspiration. So he
moved to Ahmedabad to establish his firm, believing that Gujarat was the best
place to do business and that the people were very kind and courteous.
He soon got a job at McDonald's. “I volunteered to clean the
silverware and place fresh foil papers on the plates. Every day, I worked for
10-12 hours and earned roughly Rs 32 per hour. He recalls his first and last
jobs in Ahmedabad, where he earned roughly Rs 300 per day before going out on
his own.
He only needed three months at McDonald's to summon the
confidence to strike out on his own. Initially, he planned to start a
full-fledged restaurant with a loan from his father of roughly Rs 10-12 lakh.
However, he recognized that it was a significant risk factor. He eventually
came up with the idea of opening a tea stall and borrowed Rs 8,000 from his
father to get started. He opened a roadside tea stall and gave it the amusing
moniker MBA Chaiwala. (Mr Billore Ahmedabad is the MBA in the name.)
Despite the fact that he was a roadside shop, he set
himself apart by providing tea in earthen pots, complete with bread and tissue
paper, for Rs 30. He made Rs150 on the first day by selling roughly five
glasses. On the second day, he made Rs 600 by selling roughly 20 cups. He was
selling 10,000-11,000 cups a day within a month. After a YouTuber published a
video about him, his family learned about his business.
“On July 25, 2017, I launched my company. I used to just open the stall in the evenings, between 7 and 10 p.m., at first. In the mornings, between 9 and 4, I worked at McDonald's,” he recalls from his early days as an entrepreneur.
Other tea merchants in the region were jealous of his
success and recruited goons to force him to close his tea station. Prafull
relocated to a new area and, this time established a good outlet with a large
verandah. There were numerous colleges and offices in the neighborhood.
He sold snacks, shakes, coffees, and a few other types of
tea, as well as turning his tea stall into a networking platform for young
people by allowing them to post job advertising and other information. He also organized
small events such as business programs and musical nights.
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| Credit:sisat.com |
In 2019, he created a full-fledged restaurant in a
300-square-foot space and began setting up tea kiosks at political rallies,
partnering with the parties and calling the tea after their popular programs. Prafull
has given multiple talks at various colleges, including one at the Indian
Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. In 2019-20, his private limited firm,
which now employs roughly 20 employees, had a revenue of Rs 3 crore.
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| Credit: ThelogicalIndia |
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