Saturday 25 June 2016

[www.keralites.net] Raja Nayak From extreme poverty to building a company worth Rs 60 crore

 


Raja Nayak From extreme poverty to building a company worth Rs 60 crore, Raja Nayak's incredible rags-to-riches story is an inspiration. :-


At 17, Raja Nayak ran away from home.


Raja Nayak

Like millions before him, he wanted to escape the punishing life that poverty inflicts on its victims.



"I knew I had to earn money. I wanted to earn big money. That was my only focus then," Raja Nayak, 54, tells me as we settle down in his plush new office in Bengaluru for the interview.



"I had realised as a young boy that it was very hard for my parents to send me and my four siblings to school. My father did not have a steady income and my mother had little to make ends meet often pawning whatever little valuables she had," he says.



Today, Raja has a total turnover of Rs 60 crore from his various enterprises that include MCS Logistics, a company he established in 1998 in international shipping and logistics, Akshay Enterprises that's into corrugated packaging, Jala Beverages that manufactures packaged drinking water, Purple Haze that is in the wellness space with three beauty salon-and-spa centres in Bengaluru.



Nutri Planet (with three other directors and partners) that is working with Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) to bring products like energy bars and oil made out of Chia rice.


Besides these, he also runs schools and a college under the banner of Kalaniketan Educational Society for the underprivileged and disadvantaged sections of society.


Raja is also the President of the Karnataka chapter of Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (DICCI), where he says, they are inspiring the disadvantaged sections of society to dream big.



Between them, the two friends collected Rs 10,000 and set out for Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu, a major garment and textile hub.


"My mother would sometimes hide some money in kitchen containers, and because I was her favourite she gave it to me."


In Tiruppur, they bought export reject surplus shirts for Rs 50 each. They bundled them in a state road transport bus and came back to Bangalore, setting up 'shop' on the footpath outside the Bosch office.


"We had seen hawkers outside their gate before and thought it would be a good place to start, more so because it was near our neighbourhood," says Raja.


It was a perfect plan. Most of the shirts that they had bought were either shades of blue or white.


The male employees of Bosch have a blue shirt as their uniform.


During the hour-long lunch break, Raja and his friend had sold all the shirts at Rs 100 each, making a tidy profit of Rs 5000.


"I had never seen so much money in my life. I was ecstatic," Raja tells me, reliving that fantastic moment from his past.


They would buy cotton hosiery items and inner wear in kilos and set up stalls at large exhibitions employing a few boys to manage them. Whatever was left over, they would hawk them on footpaths.



The other driving force behind Raja's multiple business ventures was his life partner, his wife Anita. "I kept diversifying because I knew there was someone to look after these businesses," he says.


Anita came to Raja's school looking for a job when she was around 16.


She is also a school dropout from a poor Dalit home. Her father was an autorickshaw driver.



Anita started helping around the school and later learned the administrative ropes.


"We actually eloped and got married in a temple. The only witness was one of the school staff," reveals Raja, adding, that till today they do not have a formal marriage certificate.



In the same lane where Raja and his family lived in Bengaluru in a house smaller than his new office where we are meeting (it is the latest Purple Haze outlet which was inaugurated earlier in the morning), Raja went on to build a four-storey building that houses his office on the top floor and his school below.


The school was started because not only was he unable to complete his education, but his sister was also denied admission.


"When I had some money, I rented a small house, hired a few teachers and started a nursery school for underprivileged children," he informs me.


Clearly, the soft-spoken, suave entrepreneur I am talking to was an angry young man once.


There's also this prejudice in society about not eating or drinking water from a low caste person.


So Raja decided to venture into the food business.


Though the eatery he started has shut down, the bottled drinking water venture, Jala Beverages, is doing well in the market.


full article in the link below

http://www.rediff.com/getahead/report/achiever-how-a-school-dropout-built-a-rs-60-crore-business/20160203.htm



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Posted by: Ravi Narasimhan <ravi.narasimhan.in@gmail.com>
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[www.keralites.net] Living In The Moment Will Change Your Life, Here's How You Can Do It

 

Most of us dont know how to live in the moment. It is difficult at times, because we're either worried about the future or sad about the things that happened in past. This, in spite of knowing that neither the past or the future are in our hands. The only thing we can do, is think about the present and make it better. Here are few things you can do to stay in the present, and enjoy the moment.

1. Focus on your breathing

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Find yourself a quiet corner and all you need to do is take a deep breath and focus on inhaling and exhaling. This can help you focus on the present moment once again. If possible try and do pranayam an ancient breathing exercise, once a day preferably in the morning. It will also help you to focus on your work better.

2. Try and be with positive people.

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If possible surround yourself with positive, energetic and enthusiastic people. They are usually someone who try to live in the present. Try and pick that vibe from them and learn to be happy at the moment.

3. Time heals everything.

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It's ok to be stuck in a loop of old memories no matter how hard you try to get away from them. When this happens, all you have to do is 'not' fight those memories or try pushing them away. Rather surrender yourself to time and let it heal them at its own pace. 

4. Be grateful.

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Being grateful helps you to focus on the positive and is an amazing way to enjoy the moment. Try and notice all the good things that people do for you. Also try and make a habit of thanking people often.

5. Go slow.

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Just go slow in life and savour each and every moment. Try and observe small little things in life that can awaken your senses to the world around.

6. Try and be more organised.

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Manage your tasks in a way that you get time to complete each one before hand. If you plan your day even a bit, that helps you to give you a more relaxed schedule and leaves time for other things in life to savour, like your hobbies.

Remember what master Oogway said - Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift... that's why they call it present.
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Posted by: Fereshteh Jamshidi <fayjay81@yahoo.com>
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[www.keralites.net] Identical Portraits At High And Low Tide [13 Attachments]

 
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