“Some stories don’t begin with privilege; they begin with persistence. Mine started in a small town called Madurantakam.
In 2010, right after finishing my diploma, I came to Chennai with the excitement of my first job offer. But since I was under 18, I couldn’t take it up. Still, Chennai is a city that embraces anyone who comes in search of a better life, and it did the same for me.
To survive, I worked wherever I could, many odd jobs, part-time roles, anything that helped me get by. Over the next 7 to 8 years, I worked for more than ten corporate companies, including Dell, TCS, Zoho and others. Amidst all this hustle, I quietly nurtured a dream: to study in a regular college. I even enrolled while working night shifts, but the exhaustion caught up, and I had to drop out.
But dreams don’t die if you refuse to let them.
After two years at HCL, I tried again. This time I attended Alpha College in Porur for my bachelor’s degree. I worked, studied, pushed through every struggle and graduated as the best outgoing student with a gold medal. Soon after, I got into Zoho through a simple walk-in interview, something considered rare and prestigious back then.
My childhood wasn’t easy. I lost my father early, and my mother was a daily wage worker. Growing up with hardships engraved a goal in me which was to earn well and uplift those back home, because I knew what it meant to crave support and find none. That’s what pushed me toward preparing for IELTS and planning to go abroad.
But life had a different purpose in mind.
During this time, the Jallikattu protest broke out. I went with no agenda except to support our culture, but what I saw there shook me. I realised the struggles our farmers faced silently. A few friends and I decided we couldn’t just walk away. We started an NGO, ‘Vivasaya Nadu’, to support agriculture-related causes like pond restorations and farmer welfare. Our efforts grew organically and soon caught attention, even being featured in major newspapers.
That journey led us to a bigger mission – milk.
Why milk? For three major reasons – firstly, it was the first food after a mother’s milk, and yet, often the most adulterated. Secondly, the farmers were still underpaid despite fluctuating procurement rates. Thirdly, Chennai alone consumes 27 lakh litres a day, almost all of it delivered in plastic. We wanted a cleaner, safer, and more ethical way.
That vision became Uzhavarbumi in 2017.
I sold my car and started with just fifty thousand rupees and a handful of determined friends. We carried milk cans on government buses. We convinced farmers who were terrified of risking their contracts. Some trusted us, and that trust became the seed of everything that followed.
A tiny rented room became our first office. In 2018, we set up a small factory in Madurantakam. As our idea grew stronger, our mentor, Mr. Sivarajah, CEO of Startup TN and Nativelead Foundation, guided us and eventually invested 1.2 crore rupees. We became the first startup to be funded during Covid.
The pandemic was pretty challenging for us. We lacked bottles, transport and infrastructure, but we also got endless leads and started producing more than we ever did. The city we served stood with us, and we rose through the chaos.
Today, Uzhavarbumi delivers 10,000+ bottles of fresh milk every day, the highest in the country. We built our own tech team and app, created 120 direct and 500 indirect jobs, and have nearly 200 delivery partners.
We maintain extremely low spoilage rates, educate our customers on how to use our product and follow a simple model where customers receive a sample first and continue only if satisfied. Our process ensures zero wastage and complete transparency.
Eight years later, the journey is still challenging but deeply meaningful!
If there’s one thing I’ve learned after eight years of building from scratch, it is this:
Entrepreneurship isn’t about ideas. It’s about solving real world problems.
Start with clarity and grow with purpose. The world eventually makes space for those who refuse to stop walking!”