Rags to riches success stories are touching tales that are testament to the unwavering power of hard work and persistence.
One such inspiring success story is of Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath, the founder of the popular Naturals Ice Cream. He established a multi-crore business by conquering all odds.
His father was a small fruit vendor in Karnataka. He assisted his father to sell in a small village in Mangalore. He then learnt the skill of picking ripe fruit, plucking it, sorting it, and preserving it.
However, he couldn’t complete his studies and failed school, and eventually left it. He then left his father’s business and shifted to Mumbai from Mangalore at 14. He began working at his brother’s South Indian restaurant and used to earn a meagre salary.
He then got driven to start something of his own. So he established Natural Ice Cream on February 14, 1984, with only four workers and 10 ice cream flavours.
He only used fruit, milk, and sugar to make ice cream. So, to fetch new customers, Kamath started selling Pav Bhaji as the main dish and ice cream as a side item. The store began with 12 flavours and due to its delicious taste, it became a renowned ice cream parlour.
From his humble shop in Juhu, Kamath made Rs 5,00,000 in revenue in its first year. Later, he stopped selling pav bhaji to start a proper ice cream company.
Thereafter, the business diversified and he presently has shops in 135 locations across the country, selling ice cream in 20 flavours.
As per reports, Naturals Ice Cream's retail revenue is around Rs 400 crore, in FY 2020. It was also featured in India's top 10 companies for best customer experience in the KPMG survey. He was also famous as the 'Ice cream man of India'. Unfortunately, he passed away in May this year at age of 70.
