Piyush Manush, Founder, Seed to Fruit

“Growing all the Way”

What do Albert Einstein, Henry Ford, Bill Gate and Steve Jobs have in common? Besides their obvious achievements they were all amazingly drop outs at some level of Higher Education. Our Feature Entrepreneur is a college drop out, but his entrepreneurial abilities have led him to found a Green Venture “Seed to Fruit” that is benefiting us all since its inception in 1997.

Piyush Manush spoke to Yourstory and told us his story saying “…established in promoting green products & ventures that would replace detrimental & exploitative products & business models … I started with innovating Areca sheath plates & cups that replaces thermocal & plastic disposables ... Today the micro venture spans almost seven states like Kerala, Karnataka, Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland & Tamil Nadu…vermin -compost, biogas plants, charcoal kilns, bamboo, organic farming followed..”

His business is actively involved in “promotion of micro business models that are easily replicable & that could ward off uneven competition from corporates who are heavily supported by the state.” 

Piyush plans to grow and he aims to do so by a “showcase of profitability of our business models & the community would follow “. He adds “showcase the right models in a years time. ... That is 2010”

Piyush finds the life of an entrepreneur to be fulfilling in that it allows him to pursue his passion. He believes “being a farmer is the ultimate profession one could choose “ 

Fighting against established and biased policies has been the mainstay of his hurdles. He says “The struggle against the state & its policies favoring the rich continues…”

By way of advances received by selling of areca machines he came up with enough seed capital to float his venture. He has also learnt since then not to function on credit. 

Piyush has made and achieved much to be proud of. He singles out one achievement in particular saying “We have been successful in promoting green business models on a self sustainable scale... that is a big achievement”. 

His website reveals the achievements that he is too modest to publicize. Seed to Fruit .com says “We have been involved in campaigns against companies like Chemplast, Malco, Magnesite miners, corporation etc who are destroying the lives of people due to their willful negligence as well as malafide intentions to earn more profits at the expense of others.”

“Apart from these initiatives we have been helpful in creating Agro- Farm for an Institution meant for differently abled children, Nurseries in orphanages to impart skill training and to augment their incomes, organizing film festivals believing visuals would help in creating better awareness.”

“With all the previous work experience we at SEED believe that the best way to step forward would be to formulate a pressure group that would make things happen. Every Government Department is flush with funds and infrastructure to carry out their designated responsibilities. But then why are things so worse and not getting any better?”

“We have been trying to spread word about the ill effect of plastics but have not been able to impact any one single person’s thought process. So after suffering huge losses had been successful in bringing about Areca leaf plates and cups. The manufacturing today involves 5000 people bring in a lot of revenues thru a produce which was earlier burnt by farmers. The product has won the world social entrepreneurship award in a competition held in Washington among 28 developing countries. The credit went to the MBA students of the Bhartidasan university tirchy.”

“it is fun” is his assessment of Entrepreneurship and it pretty much sums up how he looks at his entrepreneurial journey since 1997. 

He speaks on his website of one of his pet projects saying “Project Harithima started in August 15 1997 when I was say 21 years old on a hillock called skandasramam and had no ideas about the rural scenario or for that matter sustainable development, inequitable distribution of wealth, communism, social justice were all far fetched ideas and beyond my grasping power. The daily exercise of waking up by 5 in the morning and working by digging pits, planting saplings not only served as a wonderful physical exercise but also was a starting of a process of intellectual enrichment. Even after so many years the enrichment of the mind has not taken place and still yearn for much more and pray to the elements to relieve me from my poverty of the mind.”

Piyush feels that “still being successful would be the ultimate glory” and we at YourStory wish for his continued success and hope to see his name taken in the same breath as that of his previously stated illustrious peers.