It is everyone’s dream to get a good job after completing their degree. But many times neither job nor salary is available as expected. But that does not mean that you should give up on life itself. Actually, many times failure comes in the beginning, but if you keep on taking steps with time, then one day success will definitely reach you. Similar is the story of Umesh Devkar of Maharashtra.
Umesh, a resident of Vadgaon Anand near Pune, completed his mechanical engineering degree in 1999. But he did not get the job. He told The Better India, “I had completed my degree with very good marks, so I was hoping to get a good job. I will help the family. But nothing of the sort happened. It was recession period and I could not get any good job in my area. When I did not get a job in the engineering field, like other youths, I also started scrambling here and there.
Umesh started as a salesman in Mumbai with a salary of just Rs 3500. See the change of time, today Umesh himself is the owner of his company and his annual turnover is more than 2.5 crore rupees.
have also done the work of selling fodder
Umesh said, “I started my job selling cellphones. After working for many hours, a salary of Rs 3500 was available in a month, in which it was very difficult to meet the needs of the house. But I still kept on. As the responsibilities started increasing in the house, it became difficult to survive on the salary and I decided that I should do some business of my own.
After working for a few years, Umesh returned to his village and started his family farming.
There was profit and loss in agriculture. So only worthy income was being earned. He started selling fodder to earn extra money. He says, “There is a lot of sugarcane cultivation in our area. To make fodder from it, I used to buy fodder from some big sugarcane farmers and sell it by visiting dairy farms in the surrounding areas. This work continued along with agriculture for a long time. After that, I bought myself a tempo by collecting some money and taking some loan so that I could join the transport business,” he said.
However, he also suffered several losses in the work of transport. Umesh says, “There was a time when there was no money even to pay the fees of the child. I didn’t know what to say to the child. But it is also true that bad times in life are not always there. So I just kept working hard and thanks to the above, I also got my share. And I didn’t let this opportunity pass by.”
vegetables sold by handcart
Umesh says that till 2017 his farming and some transportation work was going on. “We cultivate vegetables. Now everyone knows what price the farmer gets in the market. There is also the cost of transportation on this. But in the year 2017, the Maharashtra government made a change and the farmers were allowed to deliver their vegetables to the consumers in the cities themselves. At that time the arhtiyas went on strike and I came to know that vegetables were not being supplied in Bhandup,” he said.
He understood this opportunity and reached Bhandup with his vegetables. There he set up his cart outside a society and on seeing his vegetables were sold. He says that at that time he did not realize how much profit he had made. But it was understood that his progress had just begun. Umesh did not look back after this. He started selling vegetables like this first in Bhandup and then in Mulund. He says, “I used to pluck and clean all the fresh vegetables the night before and reach the city early in the morning. Then he used to sell vegetables by placing carts from place to place. He used to stand in the sun for many hours and after reaching the village in the evening, he used to prepare for the next day. There were days when there was no sleep for two-three days.
Umesh’s hard work paid off and customers started joining him. Thereafter, he set up his own outlet by renting out small stores in different areas of Bhandup and Mulund. Due to the fixed place, people started connecting with him on WhatsApp as well. Many people also started asking him for home delivery.
Today there is a business of crores
Umesh got his firm registered in the name of ‘Farm to Home’. Soon, their customers started growing and so did their products. He told that the customers who bought regular vegetables from him started asking him if he could give pulses, oil etc. In such a situation, instead of denying his customers, Umesh started contacting small and big processing units in his area, to take their products to the customers. This increased Umesh’s business as well as the number of his customers.
He further says that in the year 2020, the lockdown took his business forward a lot. When all the people were locked in their homes, the people around them were constantly contacting them for vegetables, ration etc. During this, he started his online website ekrushk.com. With which people order them directly and they deliver goods to their homes. He told that his services are available today in Mumbai and Thane. Around 3000 customers are connected to them. Apart from this, he is buying his fruits, vegetables, pulses etc. from about 50 farmers, small and big, of his village and surrounding areas and reaching them to the customers.
“At present, we also have two-three retail centers where we sell vegetables once a week. Our vegetables stay perfect for about a week as I pick fresh vegetables from the fields and deliver them directly to the people,” he said.
Today Umesh is also giving work to 30 people from his business. He told that his turnover this year was Rs 2.5 crore and in the coming year he expects it to be much more.
He says, “Now I am able to give my family the life I used to dream of. My family has never expressed but has always seen financial constraints. Father and uncle lived in Kholi in Mumbai so that they could study. Then worked day and night to teach us. My family has stood by me in all my good and bad times and all I tell everyone is to go ahead. If you have the passion to do your work, then do your business in a small way. But never give up without trying.
If you would like to contact Umesh click here.
Editing – G N Jha
Also read: Grow Black Wheat, Blue Potato And Red Okra! Earn good profits from your experiments in farming
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