Top 8 Rags to Riches Stories of Indian Entrepreneurs that will Keep You Inspired
Success stories of others, especially rags to riches stories are always a motivation to read as they bring hope and self-upliftment in our life. After reading their journey, you feel like if they can do it, why can't I?
In India, there are many rags to riches stories of entrepreneurs, who struggled a lot to follow their passion and they are now the world's top entrepreneurs. Their dedication, hard work, never-give-up spirit along with a tinge of luck has made them the paradigm of success.
In this post, we have mentioned Top 8 Rags to Riches Stories of Indian Entrepreneurs who were born poor but they overcame their financial crises and became successful.
When it comes to the top rags to riches stories of Indian entrepreneurs, Karsanbhai Patel's story is an inspiring option. He is the founder of Sbki Pasand Nirma that is one of the leading names in India when the whole detergent niche in India was owned by the MNCs.
He began his business by making detergent in the backyard of his house and moving from door-to-door selling off his self-produced product. At just his initial days, he offered a 1 kg package of detergent for Rs. 3.5 when the cheapest packet available in stores was Rs. 13 per kg. Besides, he also offers a cash-back guarantee to give the customer reassurance.
Soon, he found his customer base that shows his excellent entrepreneurial skills. Also, the market strategy of Patel was just ingenious. He took a risk by clearing all stocks of Nirma to form the market and for a month he just advertised Nirma.
His effort paid off and the ads became a sensation and soon created a huge customer-based for the brand. Patel flooded the market with Nirma and today it has become a synonym of detergent powder.
Among the top rags to riches stories of India entrepreneurs, Sid's journey is also very emotional as well as inspiring. At the age of 11, he lost his father. And to support his family, Sid started distributing newspapers before going to school. That time he used to earn Rs. 250 per month. The financial situation of the home was pathetic.
Sid Naidu wanted to enter the fashion industry and wanted to become a model. But that time, he became a model seemed even more far-fetched at this point. After completing the class 10, he started working as an official body, earning a meagre sum of Rs 3,000 monthly.
After his ten years of struggle journey, he finally decided to become an entrepreneur and leverage the network of fashion industry stakeholders he had slowly built. He started Sid Productions, a venture that dabbles in fashion shoots, art direction, print ads, TV commercials, model grooming, and more.
Rahul Narvekar, the founder of Indianroots, has one of the rags to riches stories. In early days, he had to work as a ward boy, delivery body, take tuition and many other small works to earn and contribute towards his education.
While Rahul was among brilliant students in college but he juggled between colleges as he did not have enough money to pay his fees. Still, he completed his bachelor's degree and enrolled in a business entrepreneurship course.
After compiling his college, he worked for TSN and also became a part of Asia's first music channel- Oxygen that could not survive.
Later, he co-founded fashionandyou.com, an eCommerce store but due to personal issues, he had to leave it. That time, Rahul got in touch with NDTV, the channel wanted to start an online portal to sell ethnic and traditional Indian wear. And, it was then Rahul launched indianroots.com that broke even within eight months of its launch.
From born, Srikanth was blind. When he was born, neighbors in the village suggested that his parents smother him. It was better than the pain they would have to go through their lifetime. A lot of people said that he is a useless baby without eyes being born blind is a sin.
After twenty-three years, Srikanth is standing tall living by his conviction that if the world looks at me and Srikanth, you can do nothing, and I look back at the world and say I can do anything.
Today, Srikanth is the Founder and CEO of Hyderabad-based Bollant Industries, an organization that employs uneducated and disabled employees to produce eco-friendly, disposable consumer packaging solutions that are worth Rs 50 crore.
He considers himself the luckiest man alive, not because he is today a millionaire, but because his parents took care of him without hearing any of the advice given by people.
An ordinary businessman, with extraordinary wealth, Ramesh Babu is a start in his own league. He runs the business of cutting and styling hair. His acute business acumen has shaped his life into one of the quintessential rags to riches stories.
He barely managed to pool his savings and bought a Maruti Van for rental purposes. After two decades, he owns 200 cars out of which 75 are luxury cars including BMWs, Audio, Mercedes, etc. This Bangalore resident, Ramesh Babu is a billionaire today and owns a rent-a-car fleet of 67 alternative cars.
Initially, he started as a barber, a train that he got from his father. After a lot of hard work and struggles, he gained a reputation as a hair-stylish. It was then that he started renting his care to people and laid the foundation of Ramesh Tours and Travels.
Soon, his business started growing and he added more fleet of cars to his business. In 2004, he decided to add luxury cars to the rental business, it was a big risk but his bet paid off.
Prem Ganapathy was just a 10th passed boy when the responsibility of his poverty-stricken family came on his shoulder. He does not know what to do with his life. With no particular expertise and knowledge, and shattered dreams of higher studies, Prem reached a point from where he started his rags to riches entrepreneurial journey.
He got a dish-washing job for a meager wage of Rs. 150 a month and continued doing off jobs for over two years striving for survival. Somehow he managed to save enough to start his own business selling doses and idles. He used his native place's recipe and was quite particular about the quality of the product and hygiene.
It became the unique selling point of his business and hence his business grew. Finally, he saved enough to start his restaurant and that was the beginning of Dosa Plaza. This business has grown very well, and presently, it has 45 outlets spread over four countries.
Among the top Rags to Riches Stories of Indian Entrepreneurs, Kailash Katkar has a very humble beginning. He had no particular expertise in studies and hence, he opted to work after matriculation. He started as a calculator and radio repairer in a repairing shop.
This job helped him a lot from getting knowledge in the technical field and also got sufficient accounting skills. Soon, he got a good hold over his sillies and decided to start his own business. And, he started his own calculator repair shop.
It was the time when the newly merging software boom hit him and Kailash Katkar decided to involve in the software field. He started with CAT computer services along with his repair business. During these days, Kalish found that a large number of machines coming for repairing were infected with the virus.
Ideas struck Kailash and he persuaded his young brother, a computer science engineer to create antivirus software. The software developed and they named it Quick Heal and sold it for Rs. 700, one of the cheapest options available. And from then, he keeps growing. Today, they have their business in more than 50 across the world.
This is the story of a coolie's son that is one of the Top Rags to Riches Stories of Entrepreneurs in India. Mustafa was not interested in studies and he failed in class 6th.
But he gave the exam again and passed it. Gradually with his hard work and dedication, he passed all the barriers and join NIT Calicut. He wanted to pursue higher studies and so he took admission for MBA in IIM Bangalore.
During that period, he started a Kirana store in partnership with his cousins. One day, he was in the shop and saw a lady buying butter that was not packed and was of low quality.
He decided to sell packed food and to start it he invested some amount in that business. Initially, he conducts an experiment by making butter and distributing it among the people. It was to get feedback from the consumers and to make it as per their choice.
They started their business with the help of Malyali Kirana. And then they never looked back. Today, his company is selling its product in eight cities and it is continuously growing.
These are the top Rags to Riches Stories of Indian Entrepreneurs. These tales will not just fascinate you but will inspire you, boost your self-confidence and fill you with enthusiasm to pursue your dreams.
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