Life at IMDR

Ajit Apte

MBA 1986-88 batch

“Small Family Business- A Competitive Edge in Start-Up”

Entrepreneur- Ajit Apte

Interviewed by- Samruddhi Kulkarni

Article by- Adwait Likhite

Ajit Apte an MBA graduate from IMDR 1988 batch, had a strong determination and an entrepreneurial belief in himself to expand his small family business of onion seeds. Despite receiving a good placement offer, Ajit sir refused the safety and comfort of the job and chose to expand his business by investing time and executing his ideas. The first challenge in front of him was capital generation. Fortunately, the goodwill of his family name in the market for years, help from relatives and good policies of banks at that time, aided him in his pursuit of capital required for the business. Due to existing monopoly in some areas, the initial years in the business had been tough for the family. The dedication and hard work of Ajit Sir’s grandfather, who started this business, provided Ajit sir with a strong base anda good network to build upon.

The specialty of Ajit sir’s marketing technique, was that he never developed a vendor. Rather than investing on vendors he invested in the customers and developed them in small villages so that it would be beneficial for the business as well as the customers. Quality was one of the most important aspect of the business and customers were assured about the quality parameters maintained by the company. This further prompted and promoted word of mouth marketing for the business.

Ajit sir believes that skills are important for any business which an entrepreneur intends to commence. He also thinks that the perfect age for starting an entrepreneurial journey is with 4 years of work experience, or around 30 years of age. Ajit sir thinks knowledge and learnings are the key things which a senior colleague offers to a business. However, the knowledge gained by a student is subjective. It is important for students to apply their knowledge in the practical world.

Talking about risk, he says that risk has an intriguing relationship with rewards. More the risk, higher the reward. Entrepreneurs must be willing to take risks in a structured way by understanding all the aspects and repercussions to the business. Although, the initial years are hard for any entrepreneur, with time one gets acclimatized to the changing environment and life gets easier.

Ajit sir,for the first few years, regretted the decision of becoming an entrepreneur; but with the passage of time and the expected success of the business, the feeling faded away. An interesting idea which Ajit sir shared in the interview was a way to develop the rural economy by clubbing 10-15 villages to an industry and establishing operations in that area. Slowly and steadily, the industry starts generating employment, good quality of products and services and the economy begins to flourish.Commercial activities can createa chain reaction in the rural economy.

In Ajit sir’s opinion, family support and social circle play a crucial role in life of any entrepreneur. Support from loved ones, gives an entrepreneur the self –belief which is required to be in a good mental state and conduct business activities in the best possible way. Ajit sirbelieves that the limitation of today’s young generation is time. He further states that today’s youth spend a significant amount of time on social media. Other thanthis, he believes that the generation has clarity in thinking and are aware of their goals which they hope to achieve.

When asked about expansion, Ajit sirstated that he is not thinking of any expansion of the business as of now, and is looking at an 8-10 year tenure to continue the business. The concept of contract farming, which is trending in the news currently, is something his business has been performing for many years now.