Fruit of labour: MBA sabziwalas help curb food inflation

 

Ahmedabad, 18 Mar 2013 (TOI): They have an MBA from the most sought-after business school in the country but are busy selling vegetables.

 

Nirmal Kumar and Kaushlendra Kumar — both graduates from IIM-Ahmedabad, have brought respectability to the business of vegetable selling through their innovative ventures.

 

Bihar-based Kaushlendra, whose brand ’Samriddhii, MBA Sabziwala’ has touched the lives of more than 6,000 farmer families in Bihar and provide direct employment to around 300 people.

 

He has been professionalizing and creating new distribution channel linkages to facilitate faster distribution of fresh farm produce with minimal lead time and better customer satisfaction.

 

"Our next aim is to form institutions of vegetable farmers so that they can have bargaining power in changed marked dynamics like FDI in retail. Future plan also involves taking this proven model and Bihar agriculture produce to other parts of the country," said Kaushlendra, who started selling vegetables from a small outlet located behind a school in Patna. His first day sales was Rs 22, which has now touched Rs 5 crore in just 3.5 years of its operation.

 

Kaushlendra is also trying to change the social mindset of the young and educated in Bihar, who will do anything but work in agriculture sector.

 

Ahmedabad-based Nirmal Kumar is on the threshold of launching his online venture for selling vegetables. The venture will give people in Ahmedabad an option to buy farm fresh vegetables online, thus help curb inflation.

 

"At present, farmers are not getting the right price and customers are paying almost 300-900 % higher price for vegetables. I believe vegetables and fruits can be made available at cheaper rates to the consumers by eliminating middlemen . Inflation can be controlled by controlling the price rise on daily use items," said Nirmal.