In recent years MBA has been evolved as a go-to PG course for many graduates to secure a lucrative job, thousands of students prepare and take the exams like CAT, XAT, MAT necessary to get into India’s top MBA colleges some students get into these colleges but some of them fail to get into those institutes. Just like that the Praful Billore a.k.a. “MBA Chai Wala” also failed to get into IIM Ahmedabad, but that didn’t stop him to build a multi-crore business from almost scratch.
About The Famous Chaiwala, Prafull Billore
Prafull Billore or our beloved MBA Chaiwala comes from Madhya Pradesh born in 1996, he graduated in commerce. After completing their graduation, he started working as a salesman in a reputed company earning nearly 25000 a month. But like many other graduates in India, he also had a dream of getting an MBA in IIM Ahmedabad and securing a more prestigious and highly paid job in a big firm. With that dream, he moved to Ahmedabad and started preparing for CAT without knowing what the future held for him.
From Failing to a successful Venture
Even after preparing for 3 years for the CAT exam with utmost focus, he failed multiple times to get into IIM. After getting upset he fell in depression at that time he decided to take some time off for himself and travel around the city and fell in love with the city and finally decided to settle down at this point he started working in a McDonald’s outlet earning around 200-300 per hour. Still, he always wanted to have a standout presence for himself and wanted to start a business. At first, he wanted to open a café but the investment which was needed for that was huge, and he thought of something else, a roadside Tea shop and from there he’s a journey as an entrepreneur began.
Early Struggles and Challenges
The main problem with a tea shop owner in India is people’s judgment but Prafull didn’t care about that at all, the only thing that mattered was his dream to achieve something very big. He opened a small tea stall with an investment of around RS 10000 near the McDonald’s where he used to work. He used to work in McDonald’s from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and after that operated his own shop in the evening.
People started noticing the boy selling tea in earthen pots with a tissue and speaking fluently in English they got curious and started coming to his stall regularly, besides his prompt communication skill intrigued everyone from working men to students. He gained so much popularity that he started selling 10000- 12000 cups of tea in a day, and his business started expanding.
Jealous and enraged by his success the local competitors and vendors with the help of local authority removed his cart calling his actions illegal but that didn’t stop him
The Expansion Game
In spite of having such a setback, he didn’t break down, with the help of many contacts contacted a near hospital authority and managed to get a small space for the venture with a monthly rent of RS 10000. From there along with tea he also started selling ma y snacks and coffee and his business started to boom all over again.
He opened his first restaurant MBA Chai Wala soon after the incident, at first, he got mocked a lot for his name as he couldn’t cut into MBA but, he clarified the “MBA” in MBA Chai Wala stands for “Mr. Billore Ahmedabad”.
With the growing popularity of the venture within a few years then he started expanding the business by opening up many restaurants and cafés all around India making Prafull a crore Pati.
Starting from a small roadside stall MBA Chaiwala has over 50 cafes and restaurants as of now, the main goal of MBA Chaiwala is to serve 40-50 people who would like to have a cup of tea in a café.
Inspiring Others
Besides having a successful tea business, he also started MBA Chaiwala academy to inspire many people. With his digital presence and work as a business coach, he gained popularity and also many followers on his social media platforms. His main aim is to make a millionaire businessman from each and every small town in India and also to open at least 100 outlets by the end of 2022.
He occasionally gets invited as a guest speaker in reputed institutions like IIMs and Harvard to share his success story and he also helps underprivileged people to uplift their economic conditions.
