A stable job can offer you the perks of fixed salary, a steady roof above, and food on your plate. But what it doesn’t offer you is some hot soup for the soul. Having an unfaltering pace of life can bring in everything, but it doesn’t challenge one’s wit, leaving them to lead a monotonous life.
When Abhinav Shah, son of a chartered accountant, was exasperated with his routine life, he decided to step into the shoes of an entrepreneur. A CA by profession, he wanted to get away from his nine-to-five job. When this Ranchi-born boy was still brainstorming about the profession to dip his hands in, his other partners joined him. They started a dairy farm in 2012, which was registered under the name Osam Dairies in 2014, with Abhinav as the CEO.
It was Abhishek Raj, the co-founder of Osam Dairies, who had this groundbreaking idea of starting a dairy. While working in Luxembourg, he was inspired by the functions of dairy business in other countries. He quit his plush job and moved to India to start the business in Jharkhand.
Establishing the business
Inspired by the idea, Abhinav quit his job of nine years to set up the dairy business. He pursued a commercial dairy farming course in Kanpur to learn the technicalities of the business. After the workshop, Abhinav went to Punjab and bought 40 cows for Rs 35 lakh. All the founders contributed equally in the business and started the farm with an initial funding of Rs 1 crore.
It was then the perplexing truth came to surface that the cows were infected and 26 of them died within the first month itself. This was a heavy price that the group had to pay because of lack of experience.
Since they were naive, they decided to approach the experts in this field. They gathered courage and bought 100 Holstein Friesian cows for Rs 50 lakh, which made their investment summing up to Rs 1.5 crore. This was a risk but it paid off within six months of investment when the demand of their product increased.
In 2013, they decided to set up their own dairy plant, which needed an investment of Rs 20 crore. This meant they had to add resources from outside. It was a challenging task to find investors but after toiling for long, they got an investment of Rs 7 crore from a nationalised bank.
The construction of dairy farm began and it took around one year to establish that. Finally, in 2015, the plant started functioning with the name Osam Dairies.
The challenges
The initial few days of the business were good but as they grew, Osam Dairies had to face the opposition of local goons. This was because there was a monopoly and the established plants did not want any competition. The biggest opposition was the state-run cooperative, as they wouldn’t let the retailer to stock Osam products. But Abhinav and the team stood to their ground and soon the goons backed off.
Making it big
As their entrepreneurial journey grew, they learnt the complexities of the business, and made smart moves that paid them back in leaps and bounds. Osam Dairies is now a renowned brand that serves the customers all over the state. They are now thinking of starting the chain in neighbouring states as well.
“We have enjoyed every bit of the entrepreneurial journey and in the process provide a professional organization which provides excellent quality dairy products to over 100,000 people in Jharkhand on a daily basis,” says Abhinav in an interview with KenFolios. Osam Dairies collect milk from 15,000 farmers through a transparent procurement system, improving the dairy ecosystem for them through a slew of extension services such as balanced feed, veterinary care, deworming, vaccination, and cattle insurance.
Today, the company employs 180 people. Their turnover for last year was whopping Rs 90 crore. They have two plants in Jharkhand with a combined capacity of 200,000 litres per day, and collect milk from 350 villages.
Osam Dairies company has grown beyond its expectation and continues to spread its tentacles on neighbouring cities and states. Their effort and determination did not go in vain and they have successfully established themselves in the market.
Their message for the readers is, “Keep growing and following your instinct. The journey i tough initially but if you continue to walk in your direction of success, laurels will be added to your path.”
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