PATNA: It may come as a shock to many that after topping the elite Indian Institute of Management (IIM), he opted to sell vegetables on the rough streets of this city. But then Kaushalendra is a man on a mission.
He is not moving around with his loaded pushcart to earn a livelihood but to make his home state, Bihar, the vegetable hub of India.
Kaushalendra, who is in his late 20s, is an IIM-Ahmedabad graduate of the 2007 batch. He could, like his peers, have chosen to sit in the plush air-conditioned premises of a top MNC like his peers. But he is roughing it out instead.
"I am here to do something. It was my childhood dream to contribute to the development of rural Bihar," he said.
"I have opted to make vegetables the new brand of Bihar," Kaushalendra, the native of a village in Nalanda, which happens to be the home district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, said.
Clad in a simple shirt and trousers, the bespectacled youth is popularly known as the "MBA sabziwalla" among his loyal customers, particularly women in the Kankarbagh colony, a middle class locality.
Hailing from a farmer family himself, he started his venture about 10 days ago.
After passing out of IIM-A, he did extensive fieldwork, meeting farmers, studying cultivation techniques and finally taking a bank loan of Rs.4 million to start the project.
"Till date the response has been better than expected," Kaushalendra said, well aware of the attention he attracts.
Unlike other vegetable vendors, he is minutely studying consumer behaviour as he goes along. "It is important for me to study consumer behaviour when they purchase vegetables from my pushcart to help prepare a blueprint of expansion," he said.
He is not moving around with his loaded pushcart to earn a livelihood but to make his home state, Bihar, the vegetable hub of India.
Kaushalendra, who is in his late 20s, is an IIM-Ahmedabad graduate of the 2007 batch. He could, like his peers, have chosen to sit in the plush air-conditioned premises of a top MNC like his peers. But he is roughing it out instead.
"I am here to do something. It was my childhood dream to contribute to the development of rural Bihar," he said.
"I have opted to make vegetables the new brand of Bihar," Kaushalendra, the native of a village in Nalanda, which happens to be the home district of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, said.
Clad in a simple shirt and trousers, the bespectacled youth is popularly known as the "MBA sabziwalla" among his loyal customers, particularly women in the Kankarbagh colony, a middle class locality.
Hailing from a farmer family himself, he started his venture about 10 days ago.
After passing out of IIM-A, he did extensive fieldwork, meeting farmers, studying cultivation techniques and finally taking a bank loan of Rs.4 million to start the project.
"Till date the response has been better than expected," Kaushalendra said, well aware of the attention he attracts.
Unlike other vegetable vendors, he is minutely studying consumer behaviour as he goes along. "It is important for me to study consumer behaviour when they purchase vegetables from my pushcart to help prepare a blueprint of expansion," he said.