Viswanaath V., a second year B.Com student of the Swami Dayananda College of Arts & Science, Manjakkudi, Tamil Nadu, is making sure his education is put to good use. The son of a trader in the region, Viswanaath is brimming with ideas with respect to expansion of the family business. “As a first step, I am looking to expand the business to the nearby regions,” says the young student confidently. In addition to trading in pulses, Viswanaath’s father runs a mobile recharge shop and flour mill at Kattur near Tirvarur district, Tamil Nadu. The family hails from this region.
This wasn’t the case eight years back when Viswanaath joined Class 6 at the Swami Dayananda Matric Higher Secondary, School, Manjakkudi, Tamil Nadu. “At that time, he was a quiet and shy boy and a bit lazy too,” recounts Smt. Padma Raghunathan, school principal, Swami Dayananda Matric Higher Secondary School, Manjakkudi, Tamil Nadu.
Prior to the pandemic, Viswanaath’s father was working abroad. He lost his job at the start of Covid-19. Viswanaath’s father then decided to relocate to his native town and start a business from their residential locality. Viswanaath’s mother is a homemaker and she is also helping in the family business. His younger sister, V. Samayasree is studying in Class 9 at the Swami Dayananda Matric Higher Secondary School, Manjakkudi, Tamil Nadu.
Viswanaath finished his higher secondary in 2019 and took the commerce stream. He is currently pursuing B.Com from the Swami Dayanananda College of Arts & Science, Manjakkudi, Tamil Nadu and is fond of marketing management.
He is putting the knowledge learnt in the classroom to practice in the family business. Based on Viswanaath’s insistence, the family recently embarked on a flour mill venture as no proper flour mills are located in the region. The product categories being sold include the normal rice, maize, gram and wheat flour. In addition, healthy varieties such as health mix and ragi flour are also available. Recently, the firm ventured into selling of packaged spices like turmeric, chilli, coriander and sambar powder, under the brand name Samayasree Food Products.
Viswanaath is now looking to expand the business by investing in suitable machinery, packing machine and an oil mill for gingely, coconut and groundnut oil.
Moving forward, Viswanaath is firming up plans for placing advertisements of his products in local dailies as well as giving samples to neighbouring stores as part of test marketing initiatives.
“Now, I can’t imagine this shy little boy supporting and taking his father’s business to the next level,” says Smt. Padma Raghunathan. Indeed, a transformation.