“You need to face insults, tackle obstacles, and go about your task in a planned way to achieve success as an entrepreneur,” said 29-year-old Ashwath Hegde, founder and Managing Director of EnviGreen which sells organic plastic bags, here on Friday.
Speaking to youth during Shraddha’19, an education conclave organised by Ramakrishna Mutt, Mr. Hegde, a native of Balanja village in Belthangady, said: “The business world is cruel and bigger fish will eat the smaller ones. You need to have plan of what you want to achieve in five years.”
An entrepreneur has to face hurdles. “Stones will be thrown at you, people will call you mad. Set your mind on the goal, face all the insults, overcome hurdles and problems to achieve big,” he told the audience.
Talking about his own journey, Mr. Hegde said he accidentally became an entrepreneur. “In 2010, I met with an accident when I was returning to Moodbidri with a prospectus of SDM Law College. This accident confined me to bed for six months.”
This period, he said, motivated him to work with his parents and two sisters and start selling plates made of arecanut sheath.
“My initial investment was ₹15,000 from my mother that I used to get the plates and sell them to a client in Tiruppur. I earned a profit of ₹12,000 from this.”
After a while in the trade, Mr. Hegde ran a Business Process Outsourcing company for about four months in 2012 where he incurred a loss of ₹42 lakh. He returned to arecanut plate selling and with dedicated effort he cleared debts.
His return, Mr. Hegde said, coincided with a countrywide ban on the use of plastic bags.
This prompted him to work for four years with four researchers to come up with biodegradable items namely carry bags, trash bags and packaging items using natural starch, vegetable oil derivatives and vegetable waste.
In the four years, Mr. Hegde said, he face hurdles placed by established players in plastic industry. “I am happy to offer good alternative to plastic bags.,” he said.
