Recently I got to know about Yogendra Sharma. Yogendra, quit his plush IT job 6 years back. He is educated from a very reputed institute in India and doing very well in his IT job. He joined a big Indian company from campus and spent 3 years and switched to a MNC which was setting their operations in India in 1998. Yogendra, did very well there and got the opportunity to work in US and before quitting he was working in US.
But there was something in him which was causing sleepless nights. Everyday whenever he was free and having no work, he used to ponder what he actually wanted from the life. That’s when he started to put deliberate hours to ponder over the question ‘What I really want to do with my life?’ The craving to find the answer and doing something used to be more whenever he used to visit India once in a year. Then he quit his job, cleared CAT and opted for a course from IIM in Agri Business. He opened his own business, bought 6 acres of land in Chandigarh and started farming. He set up a food processing plant and sold them to some Indian companies. Today his business has an annual turnover of around 30 million USD with local offices in Singapore and Canada.
I met Yogendra in a flight to Bangalore. Here are some excerpts:
Q. It’s quite interesting, your career from an IT professional to an agri-businessman?
A. Yes, it’s interesting but it really took a lot of energy and the introspection to change the career and shifting the gears. You know it may sound awkward but I spent quite a number of sleepless nights. But continuing as a software programmer was not convincing to me. I started weighing the options. I finally decided to do something in agriculture. This was pure interest because as a child I was used to go for long walks in the jungle with friends, roam around in the fields, eat first crop of guava, mango, radish (smiles), corn, amla etc in my home town. I still remember going to my house roof and feeling the morning dew drops on the leaves and plants. Also, I used to work in the kitchen garden with my mother and elder sister, planning the roses and other flower varieties. So apart from this interest, I needed an economical survival, so it was logical to go for an agribusiness course. The idea was to gather whatever learning I can have and use it as an entrepreneur and have some satisfaction.
Q. How did your family react on it?
A. My wife is quite supportive and he was observing the internal struggle that I was in so she was fine with it. But we have two kids and a full house to run. So she took up a job in MNC. This meant that she with kids stays in metro and I visit them on weekends. We also got support from our family not only financially but morally. My parents thought I am crazy but once they saw the passion they came forward and supported me. Brothers as usual were quite supportive.
Q. Where do you go from here?
A. Response from people is quite encouraging and I have around 20 people working with me in different capacities. Apart from that, demand is solid in local regions so we think that it’s time for expansion. I am planning to buy another 10 acre and will experiment with some new crops and hybrid farming. I also get couple of consultants from Agriculture University to get their opinions before embarking on the crops. So we hope to take it to new level. This will extend our strength to around 100 people. Also, we plan to move to food processing business.
