P C Musthafa hails from a remote village in Wayanad, Kerala. His father was a coolie, and his mom a homemaker who never set foot in a school. He failed his class 6 and later quit school.
This same boy later went on to graduating from Regional Engineering College (now the National Institute of Technology), Calicut and the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. And today, he is the owner of a 100-crore company called ” ID Fresh” that delivers fresh idli and dosa batter to homes in Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mangaluru and even Dubai.
Credit: rediff.com
So how did he do it?
Musthafa is the eldest in the house with three younger sister and he failed class 6 because of disinterest in studying. Also he couldn’t have studied anyway because at night there was no electricity at their home, only kerosene lamps.
The boy who had dropped out of school, later went back on the insistence of his maths teacher, Matthew sir. Being junior to his friends, Musthafa felt embarrassed and that fueled his will to work harder. He went on to top his school in class 7 and 10. And after that for the first time, he left Wayanad to pursue a higher education. Since his father could not afford his education, Musthafa survived his college life on the free meal and stay plan by his college. He cracked his engineering entrance exam and went on to study computer science at
Regional Engineering College (now the National Institute of Technology), Calicut.
After job opportunities at companies like Motorola and Citibank, in Ireland and Dubai, he came back to India to be with his parents and to give back to the society. “I sent Rs. 1 lakh in cash to my father through a friend. I was told he cried seeing so much cash in a bag sent by his son. He paid off his debts and started planning my sister’s wedding.” he told Rediff.com
He quit his job to study MBA at IIM, Bangalore. Musthafa’s cousin Shamshuddin had seen dosa batter being sold in plastic bags tied with a rubber band in nearby stores and suggested they make and supply dosa batter. That was an Aha! moment. He invested Rs 25,000 and started the company immediately. And that’s how “ID Fresh” or Idli Dosa Fresh was born.
From selling 10 packets a day to a 100 a day, the company has grown in leaps and bounds since their humble beginning in 2003. At ID Fresh, they make sure to employ people from the rural areas. Their education doesn’t matter as much as their hardwork and dedication does.
To budding entrepreneurs, this successful man has a few words of advice –
Ask yourself this question :If you have the passion to start something, do it immediately. Don’t wait for tomorrow. I had the passion to be an entrepreneur, but it took me a few years make that decision. I still regret the delay. I wish I had started five years earlier.
My words may sound like management jargon, but it is very important to maintain the quality of the product to be successful.
The three things that worked for us were that we were in the right city with the right product at the right time.
"when will you work for yourself and make yourself rich ?"
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