The Inspiring Journey of PC Mustafa
Human interest is the most important news that comes across, and when you hear that one of your vegetable vendor’s sons or the daughter of a shoemaker made it to IIT or IIM or MBBS or some higher degree, it is something that everyone should be proud of. And with time, we get to hear such news from one or the other area and that the society or the community that he or she belongs to is on cloud 9, especially their parents and family.
We have a similar case that has happened in South India and wherein the little boy outshines the most talented entrepreneurs, famous personalities and celebrities as well. PC Mustafa, a coolie’s son, has grown so well into an entrepreneur that even a management student could not think of. He belongs to a very financially low-income family, and even his parents are uneducated. He was the eldest of four children and had three younger sisters.
He belonged to a village where the people of the village were always far away from education, electricity and advancement. The children had to walk almost 4 kilometers if they continued school after primary school. With the idea of walking for so long, most of them did give up the idea of education. And so did Mustafa as well. He instead thought of being a daily wage worker.
He did fail in 6th, and thereon his interest was drawn. He was good at Math, so he did have little expectations from himself and one of his professors, Mathew did help him grow to a good point. He did not like the idea of Mustafa dropping out of school and asked him a simple question that motivated Mustafa all his life. The professor asked him if he would like to become a teacher or be a coolie when he grows.
He studied harder from there on, came first in the 7th grade in his class and then achieved good grades in grade 10. He followed the professor in his footsteps. And he moved out of the village to go to college for further studies and made sure that he paid greater attention in class, didn’t spend more money, and had to prove himself. He did have suffered a lot during college life but managed it all. He studied harder and stood 63rd at the entrance of the National Institute of Technology, then known as Regional Engineering College. He took a loan to pay off his tuition fees and wanted to become an engineer, and had no idea of becoming an entrepreneur.
He moved from Bangalore to Ireland to Dubai to India, made his name, and earned his respect. He worked with Motorola, and he still remembers his experience on his first flight. He then shifted to Dubai and worked with Citi Bank, where lakhs raised his salary. He sent one lakh rupees to his father with his friend, and his father had tears in his eyes while he handled such a huge amount. He was happy that he was a support to his family. He then wanted to do something of his own, resigned from Dubai, and moved to India. Only one of his cousins and his wife did support him in this.
His motto was to spend time with his family and that he had to give back to society what it had given to him. He, with his three cousins, thought of opening a small outlet for making and supplying batter for the dosa. He initially did start with a small investment, and they did not expect it to reach so high in profits, but from the first day itself, they saw profits. They started the outlet in a small 550 sq. feet area store, two grinders, one mixer and a sealing machine. The venture was named ID Fresh, whose main target was to get 100 packets a day of sales. And the target was met in the next six months.
The profits went high, and so did their store got bigger. The number of dealers was increasing, and the staff was also hired. He joined in 2007 as the CEO of the venture, and he looked into every matter. He ensured that the talent from the rural areas crept in and was hired. He wanted to give all those budding entrepreneurs a chance, so he asked for staff only from the rural areas. From the dosa batter, they started with idli and wada batter and eventually with parathas. By 2012, the company expanded and started outlets in Chennai, Mumbai, Mangalore, Pune and Hyderabad. He even did start an outlet in Dubai but needed help to match the public’s demand.
The 100 crore company gave attention to the Indian market. The daily packages of batter increased from 10 packets a day to 50000 packets a day in 10 years. All he wants to say to the public is to not let that time wake you up and rather stand up on your own, choose the right time, place and thing and let the creative person in you grow. Success is always tied to hard work and passion. Make sure you be where you wish to be and stand above all.
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