‘Where there is a will, there is a way’
‘Where there is a will, there is a way’ E Siba Prasad Rao’s story is the personification of this age-old saying. An unassuming hardworking boy passes trade electrician course from ITI Hinjilicut in 2018 and searches for a job in vain. Sounds like just another employment struggle story to be heard and forgotten in minutes. However, E Siba Prasad Rao’s grit and vision makes this a tale to remember.
While Siba Rao was searching for jobs, he noticed a distinct lack of quality snack items in his residential area of Chatrapur, Ganjam district, Odisha. His elder brother became his biggest supporter and they started a moving business-on-bike where they procured good quality snacks from outside and sold them door-to-door in Chatrapur. It was going to be just a side business till Siba Rao found a good job as an electrician, or so he thought.
It was his domain trainer at ITI, Mr. Duryodhan Mahant, who asked him to apply for Tata STRIVE Nano-Unicorn Entrepreneur program to expand his business. While Siba Rao was happy with his flourishing small business, he had no idea about how to go about conducting it on a larger scale full-time basis in a systematic professional manner. After 2019 brought an untimely halt to his dreams with the arrival of pandemic lockdown, he did not lose hope and luck favored him in April 2021 when he was selected for 10-days Nano Unicorn training. From someone who had no idea about nitty-gritty of business activities, now Siba Rao became a confident and well-aware entrepreneur.
Today he runs a successful snacks distribution business wherein he procures good quality snack items wholesale from Berhampur and sells them to retail shops in Chatrapur, making a profit of around Rs. 30000-35000 every month. He has completely repaid the Nano Unicorn loan within 1.5 years i.e. in November 2022. He has big plans to start his own delicious snacks manufacturing business and also to create an e-commerce app that would rival online shopping giants. Siba Rao is just getting started!