Kiran Rajput

Story of a Dollar Multi-Millionaire in Hubli Town, Karnataka In 1998 – as part of my MBA curriculum, I joined Hindustan Unilever distributor to complete my 2 months internship. The assignment was to introduced Coffee Tea vending machine in Hubli Town (Karnataka). The assignment had two components: Identify Potential places in Hubli to introduce these vending machines & Identify Business Partners to manage it. To make vending machine popular HUL had introduced a scheme. The scheme offers machine, coffee powder & tea bag absolutely free to Business Partners. The responsibility of Business Partners is to take care location rent, helper salary, electricity, safety of machine & ensure to generate business. Business Partner should pay Rs 1 per cup of Tea/ Coffee sold to consumer. I did identify the high floating population places, banks & hospitals. One of the famous place in Hubli with high floating population & people take a stroll to eat local snacks – Durgadbail, Hubli. My younger brother a diploma holder (incomplete) then was working for a TV Cable operator, his salary was Rs 1,500/ month. I checked with him if he is ready to take the risk of jumping into a business with no investment. He was not sure if this really works. He applied 15 days leave, hired a place & since he could not afford a helper, he decided to do all work on his own. Eatery carts, kiosk will be operational in the evening only.. 5 pm onwards there. But preparation does require half day work (idli, dosa, girmit & sweet sellers) Day1: my brother pulled the kiosk & machine to roadside, I also accompanied him to check the response. First day he sold I guess 200 odd cups of coffee/ tea. The number of cups kept increasing with days passed. It started to average out 800-1000 cups & during Ganesh Festival my brother managed to sell 3,000 cups. He started the work at 5.00 PM & returned home 3.00 AM. From 2,000/ month he started to earn 25,000 – 30,000 per month. He hired a helper later. His expenses were: Rent Electricity/ water Helper salary Disposable Cups Shop owner sensed the potential, terminated my brother’s rental contract & shop owner installed the vending machine after sometime. Now my brother is out of business – he had 2 options go back & work, start something of his own. He did had decent savings. He decided to start business of his own. It was not that easy – selling coffee/tea is no talent/ skill. He landed in Chickpet, Bengaluru. Placed the order for disposable cups. Initially he bought 10 cartoon boxes. Started slogging – went to many restaurants, hotels, caterers with disposable cup samples. It was not an easy thing, many didn’t even speak to him, few didn’t even allowed to get in. He was determined – over a period of time he managed to get good client base, hired a bigger place, helpers, bought 3 wheeler commercial auto. Slogged day night, worked for 6.5 days a week. Wednesday half day off. Formed a firm – Champion Enterprises. Bought a shop in prime location in Butter Market, Hubli. So far he was catering to retail & small hoteliers. He now planned to expand his business into wholesale & outside Hubli Town (North Karnataka). Business started growing leaps & bounds. Manufacturers from Delhi, Diu-daman, Mumbai, TN, Kundapur started visiting him.. Shop was not sufficient built a godown above our parents house (40x60 sq feet site)… business grew further, bought 2 more sheds in Gokul Industrial Estate. He turned a dollar millionaire - First in our family. Business continue to grow, today he is a multi-millionaire (dollar). Now bought 2 huge land in Tarihal Industrial Estate – he is now converting them into state of art warehouse. Manufacturers route all their dealers through him.. Concept of Mega Distributor in North Karnataka. His hard work overshadowed the skills, talent require to establish a mega business. Have 2 kids – Son meritorious student pursuing BBA, daughter in high school. Today he is a dollar multi-millionaire but still the same old simple Naveen – wear simple cloths, work 70 hrs weekly 🙂, eat home-made food. Pic (old): with family, his retail shop in Butter Market, Hubli Video (latest): His upcoming warehouse in Tarihal. In video you see my brother with labours. --End--

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