Achal co-founded Shuddham Milk Products with Ankit Patidar (PFM 2011-13) in 2016. Shuddham is engaged in the domain of Milk procurement, processing and distribution. They have a direct collaboration with 6500+ farmers for supply of fresh milk, which covers the district of Bhopal and Sehore.
Prior to starting Shuddham Achal was with a Bhopal based organization which had operations in Energy, Microfinance, Skilling and Dairy.
Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/achalguptaindia/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/achal_India
Insta:https://www.instagram.com/achal_s_lens/
Q. How has been your journey from IIFM so far?
A. It has been quite an unplanned journey. Have learnt the hard way, mostly things don’t turn out the way you have planned or liked!
I took up a job offer with the group which I did my internship with at IIFM. They had a Biomass based power production unit coming up so I was made field incharge for the biomass procurement. The course learning from CSR Sir classes came in handy in field mapping and data presentation. Did extensive field work with field staff in scorching summers of Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh but unfortunately the project didn’t take off, due to some permission related issues with the state government. I was subsequently shifted to the Training and Skilling division of the same group. Spent a few months skilling farmers in various income generating activities through agri waste and dairy farming.
I was getting restless with few responsibilities and less work load this time so I started applying to various jobs in other cities. Maybe Bhopal had something else in mind for me, and nothing came out of my job searching exercise!!
I was shifted to the newly formed Dairy vertical, and here my actual learning started. Worked there for 3 years, but then unfortunately it didn’t work out for the division, and it was on path to closure.
The path to entrepreneurship never crossed my mind. I am from a family whose previous 2 generations had been in government jobs. Entrepreneurship was frowned upon in my family. But the turn of events made me choose to change my course, and take the plunge.
So in 2016 me and Ankit Patidar (PFM-11-13) , my colleague at that time, Co-founded SHUDDHAM in August 2016. We started with a small milk procurement unit with seed capital of 6 lakh that we had saved during our job stint. We started from a small village in Sehore near Bhopal. First few days were very tough as we collected just around 10 liters of milk per day. It was tough convincing the farmers to have faith in two chaps who had come from the city and wanted to provide them better remuneration in dairy farming.
Slowly more farmers started joining, as they saw the transparency in the system which did not favor the larger farmers. We also faced problems from incumbents, as their present system was getting disrupted. We faced losses for the first three years of the operations but still managed to keep us afloat with the financial help of friends and family and our conviction in the model. Patience was the key. Now we have been growing year on year and now 6500+ farming families have placed their faith in us and provide us with around 30000 liters of milk per day. We hope to double our reach by next year.
Q. What were some of the key milestones/learning in this journey that you would like to share with us?
A. During the start of my career I took the risk of joining an unknown small firm but with an expectation of learning. So when the operations at my employer firm got closed without any control of my own, I had to choose…. I had the option to either start applying to various jobs which mostly were in metro cities, which I never wanted, or to start something on my own. I had given a good first 5 years of my work life for building something which had great potential but ultimately collapsed. With the thought that I can always find a job later that can sustain me,I took the risk. So taking risks to achieve better is something I have learnt along the way.
Q. What is the most satisfying part in your career?
A. Being able to provide direct employment opportunities to around 240 youths and indirectly part of the livelihood of 6500 farming families is what satisfies us the most.
Q. Has your learning at IIFM helped in shaping how you approach your professional roles?
A. Before coming to IIFM, I didn’t had any particular inclination or experience working in teams. Once there, having batchmates from different states, streams and with group assignments, I learnt that to achieve bigger goals, Collaborative work is needed. This gave me the exposure to be able to work in the organizations and then work towards building one.
Q. What would be your advice to freshers and IIFM graduates who are looking to choose similar sectors/roles.
A. With the benefit of hindsight, I would say that being able to do a job at a smaller organization with more responsibilities, helped me with my current entrepreneurial journey. So those seeking to start a start-up could get some job experience first. This should also help build some corpus, which would help during initial days of building your venture.
Q. What are your favorite memories during your IIFM days?
A. I had never been adventurous, still afraid of heights! With the encouragement from my friends, I scaled the India gate water tank twice which was an achievement for me :-).
Playing holi at IIFM was nice in the small tank. Thandai tasted great, got stoned, still went to the director’s home to wish him, he mentioned I was acting mischievous. Took vow to never have that spiked thandai again! Celebrating my first Diwali away from Home at IIFM, among friends, a new experience to keep in my memory for life.
Q. In hindsight, what was the biggest contribution (courses, faculty, library, friends, alumni.. Anything else!!) or take away from IIFM that you think played a critical role in shaping you as an individual or professional?
A. The course work with a mix of field visits/ trips was the major part of learning for me. I was not an attentive student in the classroom. Cleared most of the subjects with the help of different friends teaching outside the class! So having a good peer group with diverse backgrounds helped me immensely at the IIFM. And this has further helped me to be open to seek help and knowledge from my colleagues and strive to improve continously.
Q. The best buddies / seniors /faculty at IIFM? Some memorable tidbits that you like to share?
A. Angam Numai was my first year roommate – he was not scared of handling the snakes. Once he caught hold of python, and took it to rooms to scare others. He being the room mate, I was at peace that I have a snake handler if a snake ever came in the room.
R. Ashvin was my second year roommate – he was a keen bird watcher and a great photographer. We were shifted to MDP block as it was called then ( original hostels ). There was so much calm in that block, we used to oversleep and miss the classes!
Prof. CSR – He used to show the evaluated sheet after the examinations. I checked casually and returned. He emailed me after a few days, that after rechecking the sheet, he found that there is 1 number that has not been added in total and he is posting the revised increased score. I don’t think I will ever come across such a dedicated faculty.
Q. As an alumni, what’s your advice to freshers or those are joining IIFM to get best out of the 2 years there?
A. It’s not what is taught at an institute but what you learn that matters. I don’t even remember the name of most of the courses that were taught over 21 months at IIFM. I was mostly sleeping in the classes (though i do not encourage you to do it). It is the exposure in field trips, internships, organizing events and taking responsibility for clubs/activities that will play a crucial part in your professional journey. We learn most from our peers, get as many friends as you can.
Q. What was your typical day at the work? And how does it look like while you are on a break?
A. My typical day starts at around 6 am, getting calls from the staff detailing days logistics and production planning. Then the struggle starts to help get my son of 4 years to get ready and catch the School bus on time. Then I try to do some workout but fail miserably on this front on most days!
For office work I have to generally go to our commercial office at Bhopal or to the processing unit situated at Sehore. I am generally back home by 7 pm and end the day at around 10 pm.
While on break, everything goes on remotely on phone calls.
Q. And how about weekends, hobbies, family and anything else you want to add?
A. Typically in my line of work, there is no distinction between a weekday and a weekend. We are operational 365 days a year. That also means I can take a day off any day of the week, but still be available on call.
My family and I like to travel to new places, so we generally plan our vacations according to the off season, when there is less rush and even the traveling and boarding is cheaper.
But now it seems I have to start planning according to the school vacations of my kid!
Q. Favorite Books, movies, authors?
A. Some of them that I would like to read again would be : Becoming Michelle Obama, I too Had a dream: Verghese Kurien, Why we Sleep, Digital Minimalism, A Princess Remembers.
Q. IIFM is driven by alumni’s passion and commitments towards its goal. How would you like to contribute to IIFM or IIFM alumni, students? Your engagement with IIFM Placement or OT/SI?
A. We have recently started offering Summer Internships to the students. As we expand further in our operations we would be capable of offering placements in coming years.
Q. What do you think is different at IIFM now vs when you studied there?
A. Was cut off from the Institute for the past 8-9 years, even though living in Bhopal all these years. Have started visiting the institute now after the efforts of the Alumni Committee. I feel the students now are more active in organizing different programs than our time, this would help the institute to improve further. The facilities for the students are improving due to the present director-K Ravichandran Sir- fighting for the cause of the students here.
Q. Any suggestions on who you want to get profiled/interviewed here?
A. Would like the profiles of Nakul Dogra, Bhomik Shah, Manmohan Meena , Anuj Sharma, T Umesh , Rohan Raj , Anupam Prakash ,from PFM 9-11.