Small Business  

Keshav Maratha, a resident of Indore, worked as a video journalist for 13 years. The long work hours and extremely low salary were a matter of concern. On the encouragement of his wife, he quit his job and opened a tea stall. Today, he makes decent earnings while sustaining the needs of his family.

Aamir Qutub faced financial difficulties while pursuing his MBA in Australia. To survive in a foreign land, he even worked as a sweeper and a newspaper distributor. Finally, Aamir got a job at a company where he successfully progressed to establish his own company. Today, Aamir’s company Entreprise Monkey has a turnover of Rs 10 crore.  

Being the sole breadwinner of the family, Diganta Das struggled to make the ends meet. Even after facing several challenges in his life, he never gave up on his dreams of leading a better life. In the year 2022, he laid the foundation of his company Daily Fresh Food.

Abhishek Bhardwaj worked in the corporate sector for ten long years before quitting the job and starting his tea business. He studied the tea markets and the increasing number of tea outlets in the cities. Today, he easily makes Rs 1,00,000 in a month. There are also plans of expanding the business to other parts of the country.

Gujarat’s Neha Bhatt runs a tea startup with the name ‘Ampu Tea Neha.’ In July 2021, Neha met with an accident. Her left side of the body was damaged and due to a delay in treatment, she had to undergo amputation, losing one of her legs. She sells almost 300 cups of tea daily and earns somewhere around Rs 1 to 1.5 lakh in a month.  

Indore’s Nikunj Sharma launched his tea business in Gorakhpur. Initially, he found it difficult to open a single outlet in the city but with the kindness of other people, he successfully launched his business. Today, Nikunj operates seven outlets in different cities and provides employment to people with disabilities.

Chandresh Bayad started the tea business with a small investment of Rs 12 to 13 thousand. Only a few people knew of its existence when Starbucks sent the trademark notice. Over time his business picked up the pace and today, there are 75 outlets all over the country. An outlet has been established in Canada, and there are plans to expand to countries like the UK and Thailand.

VSS Mani lacked both financial resources and prior business expertise. However, his determination and passion were his greatest assets. After experiencing two consecutive business failures, VSS Mani took up an office job. While working at a company that dealt with yellow pages and phone directories, VSS Mani got the idea for Just Dial. The valuation of Just Dial in 2007 was Rs 4,000 crore and it grew to Rs 6,000 crore in 2013.

Preeti Chandavasia loved making handmade wedding cards. She shared pictures of her handmade envelopes on social media and received a large number of orders. After working for two years on her business, Preeti ventured into event management, established her own event management company and named it ‘Srijan Creation.’

The founder of Zoho Corporation, Sridhar Vembu, had humble beginnings, and yet, with sheer hardwork, he managed to establish a business empire. According to Forbes, Sridhar Vembu’s net worth is around Rs 39,000 crore.

Jayshree V Ullal is the CEO and President of Arista Networks. Her assets are more than the combined assets of CEOs like Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella. Her total net worth is Rs 28,000 crore as of 12 October 2023. Forbes included her in America’s self-made top four richest women.

Sandeep Engineer is the owner of the company Astral Pipes. He had no background in business and failed in the implementation of his first two business ideas. Today, according to Forbes, he is counted among top 100 richest people from India. His company has a value of Rs 27,893 crore.

Chandresh Bayad had a difficult childhood and despite everything, he single-handedly worked towards making his life better. He received education from Cyprus and returned to India to establish his own tea business. Today, he operates 75 outlets across the country and plans to expand his business to the US, UK and Thailand.

Radhakishan Damani, the founder of retail company D-Mart, is the 8^th richest person in the country. He launched his business with an investment of Rs 5,000 and today his company is worth Rs 1.44 lakh crore. Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, (deceased) business tycoon, considered Radhakishan Damani as his guru in the stock market.

Neeraj Chopra was operating his family business in Hong Kong since he was 18. Due to some circumstances, he returned to India in 2012. Neeraj launched a new business in India. He began importing power banks and distributing them nationwide. He worked on a new idea and started repairing and selling old mobile phones. He sold around 100 mobiles in the first month and gradually the sales increased to 20 to 25 thousand mobiles each month. Neeraj Chopra’s company is now valued at more than Rs 50 crore.