PRAFULL BILLORE A Storming Teacup
Desh Ka Asli Chaiwala SEASON 2 | from ZERO to HERO | Stories of Inspiring Indians
A young Indian boy when asked to speak at a prestigious event, chose the topic, “Tea party with my failure”? He’s a great example of a perfect zero to hero story — one who failed as a young entrepreneur, who has challenged the system and has now won laurels in his field.
Modiji, please move over a bit, Sir; here is yet another Chaiwala making a rightful claim to triumph and victory. Comparison doesn’t end at the revitalising beverage. While Modiji is a Gujarati by birth, Prafull Billore hailing from Madhya Pradesh made the state his home and launched his unique venture calling it MBA Chaiwala. No, no this MBA does not certainly stand for Master of Business Administration; it stands for Mr. Billore Ahmedabad Chaiwala.
Ironically, Prafull’s original plan of pursuing a MBA at IIM was shattered as he could not crack the CAT exam which qualifies the students to enter the prestigious institute. A depressed Prafull settled for a job at McDonald’s. He began his career as a housekeeper and soon got promoted to the kitchen crew. However, his independent disposition and latent desire to reach a well-set goal goaded him to explore new paths. He began his first business as a tea staller near McDonald’s. He worked at McDonald’s from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and then at his tea stall in the evening. Prafull served tea in earthen pots with toast and tissues, to draw people in. If his communication skills and unique services earned him popularity, they also whipped up jealousy in his co-vendors who got him expelled from the area.
Not to be cowed down by setbacks, an unfazed Prafull bounced back with a new stall near a popular hospital and restarted his business investing Rs.10,000. Once again, his unusual technique of serving tea and a few more unique add-ons to his menu, captivated customers. The natural next step for Prafull was to open his own restaurant. Within a few months, his company was generating millions of dollars per month.
The CEO COLUMN has documented this case and here is a gist.
Prafull, the elder son of Sohan Billore, was born in Dhar, Indore, Madhya Pradesh on 14th January 1996. Not much is known of his childhood or his family. However, in his interview, Prafull mentions that he grew up in modest circumstances. It was his parent’s wish that he completed his MBA in order to secure a high-paying job.
Prafull, just like any other ambitious teenager, tried hard to fulfil his parent’s wish and wanted to pursue an MBA by studying in a top B-school from India. He used to study for more than 8 hours daily for his CAT to get the right MBA College where he could pursue his dreams, as his parents had lots of hope from him. He attempted the CAT (Common Admission Test) in order to secure admission into the IIM (Indian Institute of Management) at Ahmedabad. He appeared in the CAT Entrance Exam for three years but failed every time. After three failed attempts at clearing the CAT, he gave up on formal education.
He quit his CAT preparation because of his repeated failures and decided to roam around India for a source of comfort. After a few weeks of travelling he went to Ahmedabad, which he also calls as his second home now. Prafull was stressed and not sure what to do next; all his plans of getting into a top B-school were entirely broken. He decided to join McDonalds as he had read somewhere that one of the world’s richest men, Jeff Bezos & famous actor James Franco, had also worked in McDonalds’.
He joined as a housekeeping staff in McDonalds’ Ahmedabad, where he kept getting promoted to become a kitchen staff, who would take orders, make them and serve. But one thing which was missing is his own personal identity while working there was that he kept on thinking of starting something of his own but the minimum investment needed for that was around 10 lakhs Indian Rupees. As a McDonald’s employee he did not have any money to invest. So he dropped this idea and kept on thinking about another one.
How a Middle Class MBA Aspirant turned his life into the most famous Tea Seller of India?
He choose to pursue a business because of the helplessness he felt in failing repetitively in his MBA preparation. Chai was the product he wanted to use in the business as it was the only thing that kept him awake while preparing for his CAT! He finally decided to start a tea stall at the roadside of Ahmedabad streets, gained some courage and started after buying a few tea making essentials. He got some money from his father by lying that he need to join for MBA coaching, and his father transferred that money. Prafull gathered some courage, bought a table and started making tea at the roadside.
Prafull Billore MBA Chaiwala’s initial days at Ahmedabad Chai Stall
Initially there were no sales of his chai. He decided to tell people by offering them tea by saying “Hey, I just started my tea business, would you like to try and taste” in English. Customers were amazed and shocked to see that a tea seller was talking in English. He started gaining customers and was gaining more popularity than other tea sellers. They all got together and brutally threw him out of their area successfully.
But, this time he didn’t stop. He already had the courage to start from the beginning again. He rented a space inside a hospital for Rs.10,000 and was back in business. He was earning enough to survive for a day and to bear the cost of his daily tea ingredients. Prafull reinvented the strategy of selling tea to his customers. He installed a blank board in his shop where job seekers could leave their names, phone numbers, and qualification to help them connect to job providers. The job providers would often come for having tea and would pick up the numbers of suitable candidates.
This idea of his succeeded and was gaining more and more popularity and connections with top employees and business owners as well. Prafull randomly named his business MBA Chaiwala; it was later then he decided to give an acronym “Mr Billore Ahmedabad Chaiwala”. Some people obviously mocked him saying that even so-called MBAs are forced to sell tea these days.
That did not deter Prafull. He didn’t let any cruel or any rough comment affect his business. He set a new record of earning crores and crores of rupees every month just by selling teas and rusk. Now he travels widely across the globe to organise social and charity events. He also serves as a motivational speaker and a philanthropist always ready to lend a hand to natural calamities survivors and any social cause.
He’s been invited to IIM’s, TED talks and Harvard Business School to deliver a talk on how to pursue a passion in life. One courageous act of not letting netizens affect his business of making tea, is what made him so big. Many a time, one dreams of starting something on one’s own but lacks the courage to begin and continue.
The biggest fear that often stops people from chasing their dreams is, ‘What will people say if I do this?’ What tends to get forgotten is that people can be judgmental or critical for some time, but once one succeeds, everything falls into place on its own.
Prafull Billore’s Future Vision & Goals:
Now MBA Chaiwala organizes High Tea Party, Events, and Crowd Campaigns across the globe. Some major campaigns include:
· Kaam Wali Chai Campaign of Delhi Government across Delhi, organized for the AAP government
· Free Chai to Singles on Valentine’s Day: This was for fun, and in this event, free tea was served to the single people but charged for couples at their stall.
· Let’s Chai for Kerala: In this campaign, they donated their full day’s income for the survivors of Kerala floods in 2018 & 2019 to the Kerala Flood Relief Fund
· Poetry/Singing nights like ‘Mehfil-e-Kavita’ to encourage budding artists and provide them visibility.
· Educational sessions for youth with guest speakers talking about entrepreneurship.
· Hosting fundraisers to support various causes like upliftment of the underprivileged, treatment for cancer patients, etc.
Prafull’s future goal is to help and encourage more and more people to follow their passion and continues to serve by helping in any social causes or any natural calamity survivors.
MBA Chaiwala’s Growth and Journey So Far:
Prafull readily admits that his aspirations did not lie with his parents. He attributes part of his success to the opportunity he got to meet people from diverse backgrounds during his travels to various cities. He was also a complete antithesis to the image of a regular tea seller by speaking good English and adopting unique customer engagement techniques. He deepened his customer engagement by creating a small corner for job seekers and employers in tea outlets. Such was his fame that YouTubers put up videos of him further helping him reach a larger base. This was how his parents first heard of him selling tea instead of earning a degree. Initially upset with him, they, however, understood his motivation.
Prafull continually found ways to engage with his customers. Organising cricket matches, Ludo games or even just a place where people could leave messages for loved ones were various activities that people looked forward to anytime they visited his stall. Two years of operating from Ahmedabad allowed Praful to expand to his first franchisee café in Bhopal.
Now five years later, the brand that is MBA Chaiwala has more than 50 franchisee outlets, strong and growing stronger. They undertake large-scale catering orders for parties, weddings, etc.
Prafull Billore’s monthly business income is now more than $200000 and his net worth more than $1 million. At the young age of 26, he carved out a niche for himself that most dream of doing. He built a Rs 4 crore tea empire that continues to grow under his leadership. He dared to dream, and dream big. And then he decided to do it. And how!
The MBA Chaiwala Academy
Prafull has launched the MBA Chaiwala Academy. The focus of this academy is to share entrepreneurial knowledge with other budding stars. It will include the ‘How to…’ instructional guidance for building a sustainable and thriving business. The complementary peripheral topics associated with self-development, mental growth, trading, marketing, etc will also be addressed.
Social Media Presence
This tenacious young entrepreneur has a strong presence on social media and is an avid YouTuber. He maintains that his social media presence also helps him to spread more awareness for MBA Chaiwala.
An Angel Investor and Philanthropist
Prafull Billore is an angel investor and has a digital marketing company. He also launched the MBA Chaiwala Foundation and is raising funds for cancer patients and for those affected by natural disasters.
Now, MBA Chaiwala is not a mere tea stall but a lot bigger than that. It sells its items through online food ordering platforms like Swiggy and Zomato and also serves tea in various events like weddings, campaigns, etc. MBA Chaiwala is also offering its franchise all across India.
This growth story of a young entrepreneur is fascinating and motivating. Many lessons to be learnt and many ideas to be followed for success. In fact, it could just be a blueprint for any entrepreneurial venture!
