International Millet Mela - Bangalore

We just finished participating in the Millet Mela for the three days at Palace grounds - Bangalore ( Friday, Saturday, Sunday). This is the third consecutive time we have taken a stall. The first one was done in 2017 where my partner (also my life partner) stood outside the venue gave the brochure. In 2018, we had our own stall and were humbled by the support we received from our customers. We had just three nutrition bar varieties and three muesli then.

"When so many multinational companies with so much money power in the market, why would anyone buy anything from us? Our first millet mela, we got the answer for this question loud and clear.

In 2019, we had a little bigger stall - had eight variants of nutrition bars and six types of Muesli and also between 2018 and 2019, we also had a small factory where we could operate.

In 2023, we are blessed to be in the market with over 40+ SKUs, and also operating in a much bigger facility than we once started with and now we are fortunate to provide employment to over 50 people. We would soon take our products to the international market albeit in a small way.

We can never stop counting our blessings! All the while, we are able to stay independent and doing what we think is right and not chasing the proverbial 'revenue'.

We strongly believe entrepreneurship requires the patience of a test cricketer. We should not focus on shallow branding principles but on deep-rooted values inspired by the veracity of the products. It takes time but one makes fewer mistakes. It helps to keep the eye on good trade practices to live another day to continue the journey.

There are few encounters with customers during the past three days, touched our hearts. For one couple, I offered a sample of our muesli, they just smiled and said " we are your customers for the last 4 years - our day starts with your products". Several customers introduced themselves as long term consumers of our products to us and genuinely cared for us and advised us to take care of our health. Moments such as these make us realize that all the hard work and hardship are worth it.

Events such as this, provide us with an opportunity to talk to other founders in the same space. They are our competitors but we will always wish them success. These are some of the passionate and smartest individuals, who could have done anything they wished. They choose to create and follow their passion. Their success is what our country is counting on. We are setting an example for the next generation of entrepreneurs and more of them will make our country stronger and prosperous.

We had opportunity to meet Sreejith Moolayil of True Elements and Meghana Narayan of Slurrp Farm. You are an inspiration to many of us. It was wonderful talking to you both and wish you many more successes in the years to come. We hardly get a chance to meet other founders face to face. These events are an opportunity.