On this month’s Shuniya se Shikhar Tak, we Ο introduce you to Ayush Poddar, owner of Purepet Polymers who started a PET business at an early age of twenty five and turned it into a well-established manufacturing enterprise, in less than five years.
This inspiring young man who hails from a Business family, always had the choice of joining his family business of Mining, Real-Estate, Packaging and Logistics, but he decided otherwise.
Ayush studied at M.P Birla Foundation Higher Secondary School, Kolkata and then went on to do his Under Graduation from University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China where he pursued International Business Management.
During his Course at Ningbo, he got the opportunity to work in various fields of Event Management and Corporate Businesses where he learnt various skills and management techniques.
He further, pursued Post Graduation in Masters in Global business with specialization in Logistics and Supply Chain Management at S.P Jain school of Global Management, which had their campuses at Singapore, Australia and Dubai. After he specialized in International Business, the natural route would have been to get into Import – Export Business which of course he did for two years in Shanghai, China. But after living abroad for 6-7 years, he realized that the future growth for business is in India.
Although Ayush was well established in China, he always dreamt of getting back to his roots and setting up his own Branded Manufacturing business, utilizing the knowledge and expertise he had gained during his stint in China. Therefore, he packed his bags and decided to move back to India while also remotely working internationally.
Once he was back, he initially worked with his father and learnt some tricks of the trade, but he knew he wanted to do something from scratch, an initiative of his own. The PET business started calling out to him, and he got into the nitty-gritties of it until he finally decided to give it a go.
The idea germinated from the fact that he already had some knowledge of the PET industry through his father’s Packaging business. Since PET was a growing business, he realized the immense potential it had and hence decided to create raw material for PET bottles. Soon after, he ventured into the PET Polymer business by the name of ‘Purepet Polymers’ with his wife, Divya.
Every new enterprise comes with its fair share of resistance and since he was only twenty-five when they started their business, a lot of people doubted if they would be able to handle a task like setting up a Manufacturing business and running it successfully.
This is where his parents and other family members guided and supported him at every step of his journey, not letting him fall during the challenging times.
Apart from the initial hurdles, the real struggle was not having enough exposure to the way the business world worked in India and having to learn it over time.
Once his venture started picking up, his vendors, suppliers and customers started viewing his capability differently – where he was once probably doubted for being too young, he came across as someone who was extremely persistent and serious in delivering as promised.
This is where Ayush says, “I feel determination and hard work go hand in hand. If you want to achieve something, and you set your mind to it, I think any obstacle in the way can be overcome. You have to have a routine and discipline in your life. While it’s easy to get swayed when you are young, if you are focused on your goal, you can definitely achieve success.”
Further, he adds, as an emerging entrepreneur, sky is of course the limit, and therefore, putting into words ‘where he sees himself in ten years’, is difficult. He believes that different dynamics are at play in a business, hence one should take one day at a time and make some progress every single day.
At this point Ayush feels he has only scratched the surface and there is of course much more to achieve. His personal credence is that aspirations can never be limited. By the time one is done, one has to move to bigger, better goals and dreams. So, one needs to constantly be thinking higher than they can imagine.
Having said that, he does hope to get business investments so he could add value to what his enterprise currently offers.
In terms of life, work, business, his message to the younger generation is “The secret to success is Discipline, Determination and Consistency. There is no harm in dreaming big. One must decide the purpose of their life and once that is in place then, what it takes to achieve it, is only hard work and perseverance.
“Ayush is also a part of an organization called “Young Indians” which is a youth program of Confederation of Indian Industries. As the name suggests it is about “Development of the Youth and Nation by the Youth”. It also focuses on Rural Development initiatives as well as Sustainable Development in society.
For Purepet Polymers, CSR refers to honesty and sincerity in all business operations. Accordingly, his business ensures the environment is protected in all of their operations, while also making sure that its’ employees are well taken care-off.
Purepet Polymers, participates in various social activities such as supporting the activities of the rural community around the industrial areas, encouraging education at a local institute ‘Friends of Tribals Society’, Jhargram, West Bengal, and donating food and clothing to the needy.
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