March 2024, Pune, India.
It sounds like a fable yet fascinatingly true.
A 55 yr old man is now set to be the latest entrant to the unicorn club. In a sea of young men and women from reputed institutions, the success of this maverick sticks out like a sore thumb!
When you come to know the story of this man’s success, the narrative of the series of adversities and obstacles overcome you will be inspired to do the same.
Who is he?
It is Hemant Thorat, founder of the hugely successful app, iKhuddaar, that empowers millions of ordinary people to become self-reliant and earn money by monetising their proprietary knowledge base that is peculiar to each individual. Having generated a revenue in excess of INR 300 crore, the Series A round has valued the company at over USD 1.2 Bn.
But how did this happen? Is this story similar to the dozens of other unicorns out there? Had an idea, did some coding, got users, won the support of investors and BANG! Success!
NO!
He had his first startup idea in 2010 but not having a tech background he spent and lost over Rs.11 lac trying to develop his App for customer acquisition and business growth through referrals. After that, he had several ideas, many of which became unicorns in the hands of others who were techies and good partners, leaving Hemant with angst and frustration by his inability to code hamstrung by reliance on outsourced programmers that cost a bomb.
So instead of weeping over his misfortune, he set about learning how to code at the age of 53!
He learned digital marketing from Digital Deepak and became a part of a Mastermind group that is now his core team. This helped him immensely to get where he is today.
Hemant also has a portal that teaches people how to use the internet to build a business and has already had thousands of graduates successfully following his guidance. His IT company is spinning out numerous smaller apps for niche markets such as the birthday gifting app, wealth management app, an app for artists and sculptors,etc.
He has pioneered the revolutionary constituency development index that has become instrumental in making every elected official accountable to his electorate.
He has also built the constituency development App that is being used by over 150 MPs and MLAs to better serve their constituents. These have completely changed the landscape and nature of politics in India and many other nations have expressed their desire to use it also.
He likes to spend his time in a farmhouse next to a hill that he owns and that he is reforesting completely. He is also building agro-tourism resorts that are highly replicable all across the country. These are totally independent, self-powered and self-funded, ecosystems with lakes, animals, natural flora and fauna.
He is also the founder of India’s newest political party which has also been built digitally connecting people of high integrity and clean reputation across the nation with a single unified vision of providing a government that delivers justice, equity, unity and fraternity.
Hemant is strongly involved in many philanthropic activities and has a real heart for the poor and needy. He is also involved in education and is building an alternative educational model based on activities and not simply classroom learning.
This is the amazing story of how a man who has been buffeted and beaten by numerous troubles and problems can still achieve fantastic goals through faith and perseverance.
Hemant has had a long and winding journey, starting as an insurance advisor with Birla Sun Life Insurance way back in 2000, after having spent 6 years in spiritual service as a Pastor! Then he moved on to increasingly senior roles in ABN Amro Bank(Banking), Karvy Stock Broking Ltd (Broking), Atherstone Capital Markets Ltd.(Investment Banking), KZen Equities(Investments & Wealth Management) and Bramha Realty(Real Estate). Prior to that, during his teens, he has sold clothes on the footpath, sold Rakhis and other items during festivals and worked for Indian Express on a part-time basis doing door-to-door sales converting readers to IE.
(This is an article written as a part of the requirements of Internship in Digital Deepak’s Digital Marketing course.)
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