‘I Was Jobless With Rs 3000 in My Pocket’: 26-YO’s Startup Journey Building Rs 8-Crore Ghee Biz

“Of what use are you?”

“This guy will mortgage our home. He will ruin us.”

“Disinherit him from the property.”

Haryana’s Bhavesh Kumar grew up hearing these comments from family members. Like most youths, the biggest question that was in front of him after he cleared class 12 was “What will you do next?”

Like his father who served in the Border Security Force (BSF), Bhavesh was expected to join the defence forces or secure a well-paying government job. Contrarily, he aspired to start his own business. Initially, he tried to crack government exams but failed to do so. At a time when his peers succeeded, he was jobless and clueless about what to do in life.

Today, the 26-year-old has established a multi-crore business called Kasutam – an A2 ghee brand where he sells freshly prepared ghee (clarified butter) at his home.

Took the road less travelled

Bhavesh grew up in an environment where most of the rural youth would wake up by 4 for an early morning run. “Most of these people pursue a career in the defence, whether it is the Army or the police. The same was expected from me. But I did not like that job or any other job in particular,” Bhavesh tells The Better India.

Recalling a childhood episode, he shares, “Whenever my father would take me to his workplace, I saw him obey the rules and orders of others. He would work under so much stress. I aspired to a life of freedom. Also, I was afraid to leave my home. My mother would jokingly warn me to send me to a hostel if I did any mischief.”

He appeared for the government examination in 2017 but failed to clear it. “While my family was sad, I was secretly happy that I failed the exam,” he smiles.

At the same time, he also dropped out of his BSc in his second year. “People started taunting me that I would either end up in farming or labour jobs. My father was very angry at me and forcefully enrolled me in an engineering college. But I dropped out of college after a month as I couldn’t understand anything,” he adds.

Bhavesh had not discovered his skill until 2019 when he read about emerging startups in newspapers and saw related motivational videos on YouTube.

While finding business ideas, he zeroed down on starting a ghee brand. “When I was preparing for the Army exams, I made many friends at the hostel. As I came from a village, they would ask me to bring pure ghee from my home. I would sell it to them at affordable prices and earn a decent income. I decided to explore the potential of the ghee business in cities that cannot house cows and buffaloes. But this is an abundant resource in villages,” he says.

With the help of his mother, Bhavesh started preparing A2 Cow Ghee, which is produced by extracting nutritious milk from desi cows. He makes ghee using the ancient method of bilona churning where milk is boiled on low flame in earthen pots over a traditional chulha to give a pure golden colour and a nice aroma to it.

From earning Rs 1,000 to Rs 70 lakh

In 2019, Bhavesh ventured into the ghee business but hardly had any knowledge of marketing. “I was just daydreaming,” he says.

Bhavesh hired a techie from Bengaluru to design a website for his online business. As he lacked savings, he took a loan of Rs 21,000 from his friends for this purpose. 

“But after the website was designed, I did not get any orders. The techie told me that I needed to post product photos to get orders. I did not know how to post pictures and courier products. I got afraid and the website shut even before starting,” he says.

After this incident, Bhavesh knew he had to click captivating pictures of his product. For this, he placed an online order for two glass jars and a cellotape. “My mother had given me Rs 3,000 to get my driving licence but I secretly used this amount to buy glass jars. By this time, my family had no idea about my business,” he says.

Using WhatsApp, he made catalogues and started advertising his brand on related YouTube videos that talked about the benefits of consuming pure ghee. 

“From morning till night, I advertised my ghee products by adding comments about them along with my contact details on several videos. Within a week, I got my first order. I earned Rs 1,125! This was my first income. When this amount was credited to my account, my happiness knew no bounds,” he recalls.

Gradually, Bhavesh started his own YouTube channel to attract more customers. “Initially, I was very camera shy. It would take me 20 takes to complete one sentence. Also, my family would mockingly call me ‘master’ as I would speak in Hindi. We speak Rajasthani and Haryanvi at home. It was only teachers who would speak in Hindi in our region,” he says.

So, Bhavesh started recording videos when there was no one around. “I started making videos on catchy topics like how many litres of cow milk is required to make one litre of pure ghee. I also learnt digital marketing to utilise it for boosting my business,” he adds.

After initial hiccups, Bhavesh made sales of Rs 1.5 lakh in April 2021. “I was happy to get this boost – this was almost the same as what my friends in government jobs were earning. A month later in May, I made sales of Rs 6 lakh and a profit of Rs 1.8 lakh. I was so thrilled that I refreshed my account multiple times in the day to check the balance. It was a large amount for an unemployed person like me,” he adds.

The same year, he established a shed to increase the cattle at his home. From 3-4 cows initially, Bhavesh today has at least 20 cows at his home and is associated with 150 local farmers to source ghee.

Once a failed entrepreneur, Bhavesh today earns Rs 70 lakh in a month and has established a customer base of 15,000 across the country.

“Initially, just because I denied preparing for the government jobs, I was told I was useless. I kept hustling for at least two years. My family believed in my dreams only when I started earning decent amounts. I am grateful that today I am able to earn even more than my friends in government jobs,” he says.

Edited by Padmashree Pande; All photos: Kasutam