You must have heard people saying that it is the farmer who dies in any situation. However, in today’s time, the youth of the new generation have started such startups in the agriculture sector, which are helping the farmers a lot. One such youth is Anish Jain, who hasGram Unnati) has started an Agritech Startup named. Through this startup, he is building a bridge between farmers and companies, so that both can benefit.
How did village progress begin?
Anish Jain, a 38-year-old youth from Lucknow, started Gram Unnati in 2013. However, the company started functioning in 2018. Before this, he did market analysis for about 5 years and made complete preparations to run the business. Anish put in all his savings to start this startup. Not only this, he also had to take a lot of money from friends and relatives. Well, in the last 4 years, Anish’s hard work has paid off and this year his business turnover is expected to be between Rs 40-50 crore. Please tell that he had invested about Rs 4 crore in this business. Currently Gram Unnati is working in 7 states, which include UP, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, AP, Haryana, Maharashtra and Odisha. Work is going on at a big level in UP, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Leaving millions of jobs, started agritech startup
Anish Jain’s schooling was done from Lucknow only, but after that he studied computer science in 2007 from IIT Kharagpur. Like every IIT and IIM student, he also had a dream to work in McKinsey. After all, that dream came true and he started working in McKinsey on a strong package. After working for some time, he started his own business. Let us tell you that a job in McKinsey after studying from IIT means that he would easily be earning 50-60 lakh rupees a year or maybe even more. People from IIT and IIM get such packages easily in such a big company. When someone thinks of leaving a well-paying job and starts a business, first of all he has to face opposition from his family. However, Anish says that in this case he is lucky. His father is no longer in this world, but his mother supported him a lot. Rather, he is no less than a shield for them. Anish’s wife is giving him strength at every step in this journey like a companion. Apart from these, many relatives and friends have also helped in every way to make this startup a success.
Why did you choose agriculture sector after doing engineering?
After leaving the job, he took a break of 1 year and decided to understand the real India. For this, he joined an NGO, which used to work with farmers in Rajasthan. From there Anish learned everything about agriculture. Anish says that the heart of the farmers is so big that despite the loss to himself, he does not do anything for the sake of his guests. He used to go to any farmer’s house anytime, used to eat food wherever he wanted and the farmer also showed him his farm with full enthusiasm. A love for the farmers was born from there in Anish’s mind. After this, Anish started understanding the agriculture sector very well. He saw that in this sector there are many problems in reaching the goods from the farmers to the companies. Here he saw an opportunity through which he could stay connected with the farmers and also do a business. He had no plans to enter the agriculture sector, but after getting familiarity with the farmers, he made up his mind to start an agritech startup. Anish worked with the farmers for almost a year through that NGO and learned a lot.
What is the business model of Gram Unnati?
Gram Unnati has two stake holders. First are the farmers who grow crops. Second are the companies, who buy that crop and the farmers get the fruits of their hard work. This work is done in two ways. Firstly, their needs are ascertained from the companies and then farming is done according to their needs. On the other hand, the second way is that buyers are found for what the farmers grow. If it is known what the companies buy, then it becomes easier for the farmers to grow crops. In such a situation, Gram Unnati gets to know their needs from the companies and takes the crop from the farmers and delivers it to them. In the meantime, from logistics to quality and variety, the work of village progress is done. If seen, he works to build a bridge between the farmers and the company.
There are challenges along the way
Like every business, there are many challenges in this business too. The biggest challenge Anish Jain had to face was that he had to break the old system and enter it. Even though the old system was less effective, but farmers used to sell their crops under one system. Anish Jain prepared a better system, but breaking the old system was the most challenging for him. Apart from this, weather is a big challenge in farming, which no one can control. On the other hand, farming is everything in Anish Jain’s business. In such a situation, he also had to face this challenge. Well, to deal with this, he has made a strategy to grow some early, some late and some drought crops, so that there is no loss. He connects with the farmers from the very beginning, tells them what to grow, how to grow it. Along with this, he also makes sure that all the goods can be bought from the farmers at a reasonable price and can be delivered to the companies.
Friends and relatives have done ‘funding’
Gram Unnati is a bootstrapped company. That is, it has not yet received any funding from anywhere, or rather, this company has not yet taken funding from anywhere. However, Anish jokingly says that he has got all the funding for this business from friends and relatives. He has invested around Rs 4-4.5 crore in this startup. Anish says that he works a lot with the government. Working with the government helps Gram Unnati reach out to more and more people. He also works closely with all Krishi Vigyan Kendras.
Source: yourstory.com
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