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Indian Entrepreneur and Tedx speaker - Kalapana Saroj : slum to slumdog millionaire

Dalit child bride to CEO of 112 million empire. From being forced to drop out of school to marry at age of 12, the 'Rags to Rickes' story of Kapalan Saroj, is an inspirational of young female entrepreneurs. The real 'Slumdog Millionaire'.

Early Life

Was born in 1961 in Roperkheda village in Maharashtra. Was in a family belonging to Dalit ( lower caste community ), eldest of three daughters and two sons. Her father served as a police constable in Repatkhed Village in Akola. Although she was a bright student who loved school, she faced social discrimination at school also by faculty. A girl who born in Dalit community, child marriage is a norm. She studied up to seventh grade, only because her father obstinate that she must be at least be a 'matriculate'. Immense pressure came from wealthier uncle who considered girl as a 'little packets of poison'. At the age of 12 Kalpana was married to a man 10 years older than she was and had migrate to slums of Mumbai.

She was starved and heaped with emotional and physical abuse. When her father came to see her six months, he was worried to see a walking corpse instead of his daughter. He immediately decided and took her back and rejoined school. But the taunts and hate against her was never-ending. Unable to face the antagonism of villagers to her attempt to become independent. She attempted suicide by drinking two bottles of rat poison. Thankfully her aunt caught her and rushed to hospital in time.

Turning Point

After battle of 24 hours, it came surprise to everyone when she managed to survive. As she regained consciousness, she was not the same person anymore. She felt strong and empowered, as life given second chance to her. She moved to Mumbai, where she stayed with her uncle and committed her to tailoring gig full time. Within few months she became a senior tailor. A little while later, her father lost this job. She put down her savings to deposit and rented a small room for her family. The spaces was cramped and the money was tight but they managed to make ends meet.

Suddenly her youngest sister fell ill. Money was scarce and they could not afford for her treatment. She kept crying, 'Didi save me. I don't want to die'. Kalpana couldn't help her. She died in Saroj's arms and her words remained in Saroj memory. That's when she realized the importance of money and became empathetic towards people who were undergoing similar ordeals. Saroj's purpose in life changed overnight earning enough and helping other people.

Entrepreneur Life

After her sister's death, she realized the importance of money. On radio she heard about the Government scheme (Mahatma Jyotiba Phule scheme) offers loan for entrepreneurs between Rs 5000 and Rs 50,000. She applied and installed a new sewing machine at her home and started to work sixteen hours every day on a cup of tea and single roti . It is a profitable venture and two years later, in 1984, she procured Rs 50,000 loan.

With that profit and small seed fund, she started a furniture business and began with earning of Rs. 1000 a day. She learned everything about being an entrepreneur from the ground up through this business - souring raw materials, identifying market trends and, above all.

Having gained relative financial stability, she felt deeply moved by the appealing conditions of those who are unemployed and suffered due to lack of funds. She took it upon herself to create an organization - Sushikshit Berozgar Yuvak Sanghatana - to cater the needs of unemployed people. Loans with almost of Rs. 40 million were distributed. The recipients opened saloons, boutiques and such.

Real Estate

One day a man approached her with litigation locked land who needed cash urgently at a price of Rs. 2 Lakhs. Kalpana grabbed this opportunity and purchased with Rs. One lakh and paid the remaining amount withing few months and then threw herself in ensuing legal torture. For two years, she fought and cleared all litigation of the land and started to work on developing the land.

The building - Kohinoor Plaza - was constructed on 1999, and earned Rs. 40 - 45 million profit. She invested some of it in sugar mill. Hotchandani and Saroj went on to develop few projects, mainly on residential apartments. With her thriving furniture and real estate business tales of tai's entrepreneurial spirit had already become legends.

Kamani Tubes

Ramjibhai Kamani, a disciple of both Nehru and Gandhi, was a pioneering entrepreneur in a newly independent India. After independence he came to Kurla and opened three largely profitable companies: Kamani Tubes, Kamani Engineering and Kamani Metal.

After his death, different cropped among his sons and company became collateral damage. The worker Union went to the court to demand the ownership of the company since the owners acting against the best interests of the company. In India Kamani Tubes is first company went to court for the ownership, then court ordered to transfer the ownership from owners to workers Union. Soon clashes, ego formed between the workers. A new union was formed and they approached Saroj to take the ownership of the company to get back from liquidation. Her advisors termed it a suicide mission, but she recalled "All I thought about plight of the workers."

IDBI assessed the total liabilities and, Saroj had to cut her work out: a debt of 1 million and 140 litigation cases against the worker-owners for defaulting on payments and two unions. But she went all in to help out the suffering employees. She believed in her own words "Hard work is not overrated. What you want - Whatever it - You shall get if you apply yourself in wholeheartedly and work towards it with a single-minded vision."

Her first order of business, formed a core team of 10, who is an expert in their fields. Proceeded with a proposal to fix the damages. She restarted the monthly wages cycle of workers and analyzed their debts and reached conclusion that is largely constituted with penalties and interests. In 2006, she approached the finance minister who called an-all heads meeting with chairpersons of banks includes Dena Bank, Canara Bank. She reasoned with them, if the penalties are waived-off at least the lenders recover their principle amount. The bank heads not only agreed to signed this deal, also agreed to deduct 25 percent from the principle amount if the total amount paid back within one year and she delivered it. Manufacturing was restarted to get back the firm on its feet. Machinery was replaced and production was commercialized. Within few years Saroj put back the Kamani Tubes back on the rails and turned into profitable company. Now the company annual turned over 100 crores ( One million ) and capacity to produce 7,000 - 10,000 metric tons of alloys.

In the 2013, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her contributions to Trade and Industry. In 2009, Home minister R R Patel said -

"It was destiny to sent all of you ( Workers ) to Kalpana Saroj." A school drop out; child - bride; slum - dweller; suicide - survivor, widely acclaimed as first female corporate entrepreneur independent India. Her success story is testimonial "League degrees and fancy MBAs are not what make an entrepreneur. Grit, Perseverance and a Superhuman ability to have faith in yourself does."