By Imran Khan

IT may come as a shocker to many that after topping the elite Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad, he opted to sell vegetables on the streets of Patna, Bihar. But then Kaushalendra is a man on a mission.

He is not moving around with his loaded pushcart to earn a livelihood but to make his home state, Bihar, the vegetable hub of India. Kaushalendra, who's in his late 20s, graduated in 2007. He could have chosen to sit in the plush air-conditioned premises of a top multinational like his peers. But he chose to rough it out.

"It was my childhood dream to contribute to the development of rural Bihar. I want to make vegetables the new brand of Bihar," says Kaushalendra, a native of the village in Nalanda, which also happens to be the home district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Clad in a simple shirt and a pair of trousers, the bespectacled young man is opularly known as the 'MBA subziwalla' (MBA vegetable vendor)' amongst his loyal customers, particularly women in the Kankarbagh colony, a middle class locality.

Hailing from a farmer family himself, he began his venture about 10 days ago. After passing out of IIM-A, he did extensive fieldwork, meeting farmers, studying cultivation techniques and finally, taking a bank loan of Rs 4 million (Rs 4000,000) to start the project.

"Till date the response has been better than expected," says Kaushalendra. Unlike other vegetable vendors, he is minutely studying consumer behaviour as he goes along.

"It helps me to prepare a blueprint of expansion," he feels.

Read: She prefers chocolates to a 9 to 5 job

Photograph: Getty Images
(Photograph used for illustrative purposes only)

1 | 2 |  

e-mail: IANS

Suggest a story idea! Write to us!